The conflict between the US and Iran has entered its third week, and fears are growing that its consequences could extend beyond missiles, oil and military bases. There are cables laid under the surface of the sea that provide internet access not only to the people of the Middle East but to the entire world. The first sign that the conflict could extend to digital infrastructure came last week, when Meta told Bloomberg it had halted work on a portion of its “2Africa” project. It was a 45,000 km long submarine cable system, built to increase internet connectivity in Africa and the Gulf region.
The ban affects the portion of the cable that passes through landing stations in Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia. Except for India, all of these are countries that are currently either directly inside the conflict zone, or very close to it. Facebook’s parent company had originally planned to launch this feature later this year.
Additionally, Alcatel Submarine Networks—the French state-owned company responsible for laying these cables—has issued “force majeure” notices to its customers. According to a Bloomberg report, the company also said that its installation ship, *Ile de Batz*, is stranded off the coast of Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The world’s Internet passes through these submarine routes
Beneath the waters of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, hundreds of fiber-optic cables laid on the seafloor carry more than 95% of the world’s Internet traffic. This means that everything from your email, video calls, and cloud services to financial transactions and streaming content depends on these cables. According to Capacity Global, at least 17 submarine cables pass through the Red Sea alone, forming a vital data corridor connecting Europe, Asia and Africa.
According to ‘TeleGeography’, the Strait of Hormuz is equally important as major cable systems like AAE-1, FALCON, Gulf Bridge International Cable System and Tata TGN Gulf pass through this area. These cables connect the massive data centers built in the Gulf region by companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google to billions of users around the world. These cables are extremely vulnerable to damage—whether from naval mines, ships’ anchors, or direct military action. Iran has already laid naval mines in this strait, due to which maritime traffic through this route has almost come to a complete halt.
Last year, a cable cut in the Red Sea disrupted internet services in India, Pakistan and several countries in the Middle East. It was reported that the dragging anchor of a commercial ship had cut several internet cables laid under the sea. According to reports, the Red Sea is particularly vulnerable to this issue because the cables laid there are in relatively shallow water, making it easier for them to be damaged by dragging anchors.