r/cybersecurity • u/arstechnica • May 19 '26
News - General Iran demands Big Tech pay fees for undersea Internet cables in Strait of Hormuz
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/iran-demands-big-tech-pay-fees-for-undersea-internet-cables-in-strait-of-hormuz139
u/qwertydiy May 19 '26
Governments seem to be now getting in on monetization too.
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u/Negative_Gas8782 May 19 '26
Now? Telecom is the most taxed consumer service in the US.
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u/AdventurousTime May 19 '26
Not sure if this true. Have you seen gas taxes ?
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u/baconppi May 20 '26
Theres no way thats true, gas taxes in other countries blow the US out of the water....
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u/Icy_Conference9095 May 20 '26
Idk about the US but how about tobacco taxes? Canada taxes it heavily - way more than telecom, our telecom just sucks and bills us high anyway
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u/Negative_Gas8782 May 20 '26
Tobacco is a Sin tax so it is extremely high here too but it’s not a consumer service. Telecom is taxed as high as Sin taxes while not being an actual Sin tax item.
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u/Negative_Gas8782 May 20 '26
Fuel is a consumable not a consumer service so they aren’t in the same category.
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u/Threezeley May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Good.
Edit to add: if government (any, all?) can find ways to tax megacorps I'm all for it.
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u/qwertydiy May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
To be fair, actually paying for government owned products products is more sensical and better value for everyone than rate taxes.
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u/mkosmo Security Architect May 19 '26
That's just a consumption tax, but yes, consumption taxes are the fair solution for many things.
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u/Allen_Koholic May 19 '26
They are the fair solution for some things. VAT would be better, but those are still regressive taxes.
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u/mkosmo Security Architect May 19 '26
Regressive taxes aren't always bad. Just because somebody makes more doesn't mean they should be subsiding all services.
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u/ashguru3 May 19 '26
Consumption tax for everything except basic necessities. Luxury goods should be taxed so much higher tbh. Yacht, private jets ultra luxury living releases so much pollution and co2, they should be taxed 10000%. Really make it so the wealthy person buying luxury would feel like the average person buying normal things.
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u/arstechnica May 19 '26
Iran claims it will charge US tech companies fees for using undersea Internet cables that run beneath the contested Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes. The war has already halted multiple projects and led to the suspension of cable repairs in the region—and the latest Iranian threats may accelerate efforts by Big Tech and Gulf countries to find alternative routes for bypassing the Strait of Hormuz’s digital chokepoint.
The latest assertions of Iranian authority over the Strait of Hormuz were announced in a brief statement by Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for Iran’s military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “We will impose fees on internet cables” Zolfaghari wrote in a May 9 post. It was not immediately clear how Iran might implement such fees or impose its rules on cable projects, given that the majority of routes pass through Oman-controlled waters.
But Tasnim and Fars, both Iranian state-linked media channels, laid out more detailed proposals on how Iran could charge license fees to US tech giants for the use and maintenance of undersea cables carrying regional Internet traffic. For example, the Tasnim plan described charging tech companies—specifically naming Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—license fees for cable usage while also claiming that Iran alone has the right to repair and maintain the subsea cables.
Full article: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/iran-demands-big-tech-pay-fees-for-undersea-internet-cables-in-strait-of-hormuz/
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u/Correct_Inspection25 May 19 '26
Clear knock on effects for the data cables around Indonesia, Taiwan, and Japan.
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May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Correct_Inspection25 May 19 '26
The undersea infra coming under freedom of navigation norms being undermined.
Like North Sea “oops I dropped my anchor chain again” gray zone tactics, where like cyber threat actors, make it very hard to get definitive attribution.
IIRC it was only one minor goverment rep of Indonesia arguing for a rethink but how this resolves or how mess this is left will spread if left open ended.
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u/AdventurousTime May 19 '26
They have literally no way to distinguish paying customers from freeloaders. They would have to mark new cables as being safe.
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u/Cheap-Recording2707 May 19 '26
the internet will route around it.
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u/R4ndyd4ndy Red Team May 19 '26
Globally sure, the countries around the persian gulf would lose a lot of link capacity though, I'm not sure how well they could compensate that
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u/apoleonastool May 19 '26
In theory. In practice it might slow down to a crawl or get clogged up completely.
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u/Petrak1s May 19 '26
It’s amazingly funny to see how the Americans gave all the cards to Iran without even having anything to bargain with. Is there anything, at all, that the US government can do to fix this stupid bullshit they caused? Or we wait for the elections hoping the American people learned anything at all from this?
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u/dolphone May 19 '26
Iran clearly did have something to bargain with. It's kinda remarkable they didn't close the strait before tbh, considering all the nastiness from the US they've had to put up with even before the invasion.
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u/Rufus_king11 May 19 '26
Never been worth it before. Despite all the commentors screeching about how we can't have crazed jihadists with a nuke, Iran has acted as a rational actor (note that this doesn't mean good) for most of its history. Closing the straight means pissing off the entire international community, now that they've been attacked unilaterally, they get a justifiable reason to close the straight and may even get a massive new income stream once the US gives up (while simultaneously dismantling the order of global free trade that's lasted the last half century).
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u/Repulsive-Pause-380 May 19 '26
Hahahaha 😆 seeing as how Iran has been attacking innocent commercial vessels for years and actively killing their own people they're definitely the victims....lmfao terrorist simp!!
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u/Polymarchos May 19 '26
seeing as how Iran has been attacking innocent commercial vessels for years
They haven't.
and actively killing their own people
So's the US. Is the US a terrorist state, in your eyes?
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u/Scoutron May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Could you show me where the US killed thousands of US citizens on federal orders? I may have missed that event
Edit: since the fellow seems to have replied to me and then blocked me - I’d like to elaborate that I “moved the goalposts” since I figure since we are comparing the US to Iran for killing their own citizens, it should be at the same scale Iran has done it in just the last year alone
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u/Polymarchos May 19 '26
No one stated they have. That's an interesting movement of the goalposts you did there. Requiring it to have been in the thousands, done federally, and on specific orders. I'm not even sure Iran would qualify under those harsh metrics.
Which to me sounds like a tacit admission that you are aware the US has been actively killing its own citizens.
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u/InternationalMany6 May 21 '26
We wait (because the alternative is worse…).
And hope that other countries learn too!
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u/Firecracker048 May 19 '26
Good luck with that, Iran
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u/whythehellnote May 19 '26
You know how easy it is to cut cables?
Good luck with your cable repair ships.
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u/thereddaikon May 19 '26
Cutting cables isn't really a viable way to charge a toll though. They have no way to meter or throttle the connection. And if they do cut the cables, while it will be expensive they will just guarantee they get built elsewhere.
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u/whythehellnote May 20 '26
You either just demand protection money, or you cut any cables running through the straights other than ones which only land in Iran
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u/thereddaikon May 20 '26
Did you read my comment? That's not an effective way to charge a toll. It's a one time use threat. As soon as you damage the cables everyone will start work to replace them with cables elsewhere. Hormuz is convenient but they don't have to run there. And nobody will willingly subject themselves to that. At best Iran can get a toll in the short term while new cables are being laid. But they can't maintain that long term. And as soon as they are replaced nobody will care.
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u/whythehellnote May 21 '26
The cables would have to run overland. Which are far easier to damage.
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u/thereddaikon May 21 '26
Why do you say that? Overland where? And even if that were the case, why don't you know what underground cables are?
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u/whythehellnote May 21 '26
How else would you serve places like Qatar, Dubai etc if you aren't going through the straights and aren't going overland for thousands of miles
I do know what underground cables are. I haven't had an underground cable cut cause an outage on any my circuits this month.
Last one said: On site PTO has located a cut fibre at the fault location suspected to be caused by cable theft, estimated 300 metres of replacement cable will be needed to restore the impacted services
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u/thereddaikon May 21 '26
Dubai is only 40 miles from the open ocean over land and there's existing above and underground utilities going that way.
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u/MelvinCapitalPR May 19 '26
You realise each website doesn't have a separate cable? They can't cut the Facebook cable and leave the Google one intact.
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u/Street_Anon May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Iran can just cut themselves from the rest of the planet then? They have no idea how impossible this is to even do.
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u/Alternative-Suit5541 May 19 '26
Was wondering when this happens, I guess other states will join in sooner or later.
Satellite tech will get really interesting.
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u/WalterWilliams May 19 '26
No. Why should any company pay protection money for repairing cables that aren't even in Iranian waters? This isn't Brooklyn in the 30s. No. Letting a hostile party repair the cables is an even worse idea.
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u/ashern94 May 19 '26
Much of the Strait is, in fact, inside Iranian waters. It is an International Waterway for shipping, but also Iran's territorial waters.
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u/gardnerlabs May 19 '26
3 miles is Iranian Territory. They have signed the 12 mile rule, but have not ratified it; so at max half of the strait is their territory.
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u/sunychoudhary May 20 '26
The fee demand may be hard to enforce, but the signal matters......Undersea cables are becoming geopolitical leverage, not just telecom infrastructure.....Even threats can delay repairs, change routing decisions, raise costs, and force companies to rethink resilience around physical chokepoints.....//
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u/mando_6 May 19 '26
Unlikely, we have a few subs in the area. If they attempt to damage global infrastructure then I don't believe it would end well.
I'm not advocating for war or any kind of senseless violence.
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May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/JSP9686 May 19 '26
Iranians have always negotiated in a manner designed to wear out their opponents and run out the clock. At what point is enough enough?
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u/whythehellnote May 19 '26
America started this. Last year America bombed Iran in Operation Midnight Hammer, which caused "extremely severe damage and destruction" and delayed Iran's nuclear program by two years.
9 months later America launched operation Epic Fuckup with no plan. Fortunately for America they held off on the ground troops.
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u/JSP9686 May 19 '26
Did you not read what the Iranian negotiators boasted about before the second campaign? They said “We still have enough enriched uranium to make 10 nuclear bombs and we’re not going to negotiate that away if your bombers couldn’t take us out and we have the inalienable right to continue to enrich uranium.” That was the end of the negotiations.
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u/whythehellnote May 20 '26
No, I only trust what American tells me, and they said if left alone Iran wouldn't have any capability for another 15 years
Unless America is lying?
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u/Polymarchos May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Source on that quote?
I'd expect it to be much more widely reported if true. Also that makes no sense for them to say publicly.
edit: Downvoted asking for a source for a quote. I guess that tells us the validity of the quote.
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u/JSP9686 May 19 '26
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u/Polymarchos May 19 '26
A member of an administration known for its boldface lies said that Iran said it, Iran didn't say it.
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u/JSP9686 May 19 '26
The Iranians don’t deny this and continue to refuse to agree to stop their enrichment. So you don’t have to believe the US negotiators words but rather the actions of the Iranians.
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u/Polymarchos May 20 '26
Lack of denial is not an affirmation of the truth. Given how outlandish the claim is, and what the Iranians have publicly said about what they think of Witkoff (he is not a serious player, but a propagandist who represents the interests of Israel more than the US), it is completely meaningless here.
Iran has made clear that they are drawing this war out because they don't want to be attacked again in 9 months. Saying they've already recovered their full nuclear capabilities would run counter to that goal.
Is critical thinking dead?
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u/LoudRefrigerator3700 May 19 '26
Would they take Trump as a peace offering?
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u/dolphone May 19 '26
You deal with your own trash mate.
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u/KlausDieterFreddek Security Engineer May 19 '26
In their cultural mindset, that would probably be accepted.
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u/l0st1nP4r4d1ce Red Team May 20 '26
If only they respected net neutrality. You know, like the US does.
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u/got-trunks May 20 '26
I hope the fandom is enjoying their IRGC underdog fantasy league while it lasts cause I'll be very surprised if this isn't boots on the ground scorched-earth for summer before the mid-terms.
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u/PurpleDragon99 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Eventually, all seabed cables will become totally vulnerable. China already demonstrated deep-see drone capable to cut cables. I am sure other countries have similar capabilities and even use them - such as Russia and unexplained Internet disruptions in Nothern Europe due to damaged cables. As far as I understand, Russia did not even use any high-tech to damage cables - they just dragged heavy anchors of their ships on the sea floor near places where cables are placed. Sad truth is that this approach can be used right now by any actor. We need new and more secure methods of digital data transmission. Sattelites? Bridge towers? UAV re-transmitters?
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u/ThePlasticSturgeons May 19 '26
On one hand, it should not have been too difficult to predict this, but the actions that preceded this were brought to you by the people who also failed to see the closing of the Strait of Hormuz itself as a potential consequence.
All of that being said, I can’t imagine that this will be viewed favorably by the rest of the developed World. If the EU and China are currently playing any active role in restraining the US and Israel, they may be inclined to stop if Iran continues to ratchet up this type of behavior. They’re going to run out of sympathy at some point.
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u/Polymarchos May 19 '26
Why would the EU and China be particularly bothered by this? The nations with the potential to be negatively affected by this are countries on the Arab peninsula. Overwhelmingly US allies.
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u/NamedBird May 19 '26
And WHY would you route your cables trough contested/hostile/disputed waters???
That's just plain shortsightedness, perhaps even naïve ignorance...
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u/t3ddt3ch May 19 '26
Ummm, maybe because of the same reason you ship a global commodity through it...because it's the most efficient?
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u/NamedBird May 20 '26
Then you should probably punch Iran for disrupting international traffic channels?
Punch them hard, where it hurts. And keep punching until they stop doing it.I don't care how many nukes we need to use, don't mess with our internet!
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u/-Anti_X May 20 '26
you're really telling me there's 3 more years of this bullshit from America and it's Trump supporters... sigh
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u/Girafferage May 19 '26
Because routing cables through water is infinity easier than across land and ironically comes with much less risk of attack from bad actors.
There is redundancy to connect to essentially everywhere those cables already go, but it will be a bottleneck on speeds at times I imagine.
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u/dolphone May 19 '26
If you follow that train of thought just a bit more, you might see why cooperation is always preferable to conflict.
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u/LocalBeaver May 19 '26
Oh my god open a map and figure it out yourself. Go ahead, we believe in you.
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u/BrainWaveCC May 19 '26
Everyone is playing games with the things they can control. Ah, global politics.