Iran reportedly threatening to cut Red Sea cables: What it means for internet users across the world, including India
Iran has reportedly threatened to damage undersea internet cables in the Red Sea, a move that will have a significant impact on internet speed across multiple countries in the world. Notably, the threat has not been directly confirmed by Iranian officials or major intelligence outlets but several notable Twitter handles, including Mario Nawfal, Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur, say the vulnerability is real, the cables are there and the potential damage is enormous.“Iran’s now threatening to cut undersea internet cables if Gulf states keep hosting U.S. troops,” said Nawfal.“Those cables carry 17% of global traffic, including UAE and Saudi AI hubs backed by Amazon, Microsoft, Google. If they snap, it’s months of outages, not hours. Meta’s contractor already pulled out of the Persian Gulf,” he added.Meanwhile, SungHoon Lee, who is world’s highest IQ 276 holder, said that he warned about the internet cables “18 days ago.”“I warned about this 18 days ago. Now Iran is threatening to CUT the undersea cables that carry 95% of ALL global internet traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Not a hypothetical. Not a ‘what if’. They SAID it. This went from warning to reality in 18 days. If you didn’t prepare then – prepare NOW,” he said in a post.
What are Red Sea internet cables and what is at stake
Beneath the waters of Red Sea are dense web of fibre optic cables that carry an estimated 30% of regional internet traffic and connecting continents like Asia, Europe and the Middle East. These are responsible for carrying everything from financial transactions and cloud services to video calls, emails, and AI workloads. The cables also connect some of the world’s most significant emerging AI infrastructure. Cutting these cables would not just slow down social media.
What it means for India
India, among other countries, has particular reason to pay attention. The cable runs through landing stations in Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia. These countries (except India) that are currently directly in or adjacent to the current conflict zone.India is also one of the largest consumers of internet traffic, with significant data flows connecting Indian users to servers in West Asia, Europe, and beyond. A disruption to cables will directly affect internet speeds, cloud service reliability and digital business operations across India. Given India’s growing dependence on cloud infrastructure, digital payments and AI-powered services, a prolonged period of degraded connectivity would carry multiple economic consequences.Moreover, Alcatel Submarine Networks, the French state-owned company responsible for laying the cable, has issued force majeure notices to customers. The company has also reported the stranding of its installation ship, the Ile De Batz, off the coast of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, according to a Bloomberg report.
