Several tankers linked to Iran are sailing on underwater internet cables in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz – a possible indication that the Iranian government is preparing to attack such underwater infrastructure in response to any further US and Israeli strikes.
The movements of three sanctioned oil tankers and an Iranian fishing boat were tracked near major undersea cables by maritime intelligence firm Windward in October, according to the Financial Times. Six active cables currently cross the disputed Strait of Hormuz, linking the Middle East to Europe, Africa and Asia, with two more cables with segments under construction in the region.
Four countries, including Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, rely entirely on these underwater telecommunications connections crossing the Strait of Hormuz choke point to communicate with the outside world. But other countries also rely heavily on the region’s network of submarine cables: a third of internet traffic to western India passes through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
One cable under construction, the 2Africa cable, belongs to a technology consortium that includes the American company Meta. It was one of the main cable corridors visited by drifting ships linked to Iran.
Windward used both ship tracking data and satellite imagery to track ships as they slowed and circled around multiple cables, with some ships then “going dark” by turning off their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders that normally broadcast their location and other information.
Such movements and behavior suggest that Iran-linked vessels could “map cable routes or place charges or mines there in the dark,” Windward told the Financial Times.
Windward highlighted the example of two sanctioned Iran-linked oil tankers that spent days drifting “directly above regional cable corridors…both without any commercial reason to stop” in an October 26 blog post. Both ships were not carrying any commercial cargo.
Gn world
