Iran Can Black Out Half the Planet’s Internet — and Is Now Demanding Tribute from the Tech Giants

While the world watches oil tankers inch through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has found a far more sensitive pressure point

While the world watches oil tankers inch through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has found a far more sensitive pressure point: the underwater cables that carry the internet. Tehran has issued a blunt ultimatum to the biggest IT corporations — Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and the rest: pay the “tribute,” or we cut the cables. One switch thrown, and half the world could lose its digital lifeline between Asia and Europe.

What would actually happen if Iran carried out its threat? Which countries would feel the blow hardest? The hosts of the hard-hitting podcast What’s Going On?.., Alexander Khorovets and Artem Stroganov, lay it out.

What Tehran Wants

In the latest round of confrontation with the West, Iran has shifted its focus from oil to digital infrastructure.

Tehran is now openly demanding payment from the transatlantic and transnational tech giants simply for allowing their cables to lie on the seabed of the Strait of Hormuz. Refuse — and the cables will be severed. This is no idle threat. The cables in question form the backbone of global communications between Asian and European markets.

Artem Stroganov: “This isn’t just ‘the internet.’ This is the critical market link between Asia and Europe. Cut it, and everything becomes very, very sad.”

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The Strait of Hormuz — the Planet’s Digital Kill-Switch

Having been “defeated” by Trump yet again, the Iranians have discovered a new lever of power. The Strait of Hormuz is no longer only the world’s most important oil chokepoint. Beneath its waters run the vital submarine fibre-optic cables that carry the lion’s share of traffic between Europe, Asia and the Gulf states.

Key facts:

- Damage to even a handful of these cables could cause massive internet disruptions across vast territories.

- The main blow would fall on the Gulf countries and Europe.

- Repairing a single severed section would take months and cost a fortune.

- The cables are eight-fibre, lying at great depth in dark water — locating and fixing a break is an extremely difficult and expensive operation.

Alexander Khorovets: “If they cut that cable, restoration won’t take a day or two. We’re talking months. This is serious infrastructure.”

How Iran Could “Switch Off” the Internet

Two scenarios are being discussed. The first is direct sabotage — Iran or its proxies physically sever the cables. The second is a convenient “accident” — a neatly cut 1.5–2 kilometre section that looks like an unfortunate mishap.

In either case, the consequences would be catastrophic. Rapid restoration would be impossible. And this is not ordinary consumer internet — it is critical global connectivity. By slicing the cables, Iran could plunge entire regions into digital darkness for months.

The Tech Giants’ Reaction

Meta, Google and the others are already in a cold sweat. The major corporations are seriously considering new seabed routes, but that would require colossal investment and years of work. For now, they can only hope that a deal is reached.

The mere emergence of an “Iranian kill-switch” has exposed how fragile our digital world truly is. One strait, a few cables — and half the planet can be taken offline.

Iran has transformed the Strait of Hormuz from an oil chokepoint into a digital one. For the moment it is still a threat and a demand for payment, but the kill-switch has been found. The tech giants are stunned, and the world is watching with bated breath: will the corporations pay up, or will they risk a global blackout?

The real question is no longer whether Tehran can switch off the internet. It is how far Tehran is prepared to go.