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Iran Threatens Gulf Undersea Cables as Trump Floats Another Strike

October 24, 2026 · Category: World News

Nearly eight months into the Iran war, both sides spent Friday signaling that they're ready to escalate.

Two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters that Tehran has drawn up detailed plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel attack Iran again. They also said Iran would try to block repairs to make outages last longer. "If Iran is attacked, there will be no more red lines ... from undersea cables to military bases, including covert ones," one official said. The threat came a few days after IRGC deputy Yadollah Javani said Iran could hit seven major internet cables under the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier this month, top security official Mohsen Rezaei warned that US-linked data centers and AI facilities across the Gulf could also become targets.

The actual reach of a cable attack may be narrower than the rhetoric suggests. TeleGeography's Alan Mauldin told Reuters that less than 1% of international bandwidth passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The Middle East Institute's Alex Vatanka read the threats as deterrence aimed at Gulf governments and US companies that have invested heavily in the region's digital infrastructure. The concern has a recent basis: Iranian strikes hit two Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE in March, Arab News reported, citing Reuters.

In Washington, the message has been mixed. At a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, President Trump said "we may do another little Epic Fury," using the US military's name for the campaign, though he didn't elaborate, Reuters reported. Earlier Friday he said the US could end the war quickly but questioned whether it should, or whether the conflict should be allowed to wind down gradually. This month, he also said the US would not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 elections.

Domestic politics are part of the backdrop. The US and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28, Iran retaliated against Israel and Gulf states that host US bases, and the war has pushed up oil and gas prices worldwide, according to Reuters. Fuel costs are now weighing on the midterms. That gives the White House reasons to keep the conflict quiet before the vote and also to keep pressure on Tehran. Iran's cable threat looks designed to raise the cost of any new strike for Washington's Gulf partners.

Why it matters

Both sides are signaling escalation. Iran's threat extends the conflict to digital infrastructure that Gulf states and US tech firms have invested in heavily, while Trump's remarks keep the possibility of renewed US strikes open after the election.

Sources

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