# [WARNING] Iran Hardliner Urges Cutting Hormuz Undersea Internet Cables

*Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 9:38 AM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Detected**: 2026-09-03T09:38:00.834Z (41m ago)
**Tags**: MARKET, ENERGY, CyberRisk, MiddleEast, Iran, Hormuz, RiskPremium
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/alerts/20906.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Summary**: A senior Iranian hardline figure is publicly calling for IRGC action to sever undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that blocking oil exports is now less effective. While this is not an operational order, it introduces a new escalation vector in the world’s key oil chokepoint, potentially raising risk premia in energy and shipping and elevating cyber and communications risk.

## Detail

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Kayhan and a prominent voice for Iran’s conservative camp, has urged the Revolutionary Guard to cut undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz, claiming that targeting data infrastructure is now more effective than blocking oil flows. Though this is an editorial, not a state decree, Kayhan often telegraphs hardline thinking and potential escalation pathways.

Physically, this does not yet impede oil or LNG transit through Hormuz, where roughly 17–20 million barrels per day of crude and condensate plus significant LNG volumes pass. However, threatening data and communications infrastructure in the same narrow chokepoint changes how markets must price tail risk. Cutting cables could disrupt vessel communications, routing, financial transactions, and logistics systems that underpin global energy and trade flows, even if tankers and LNG carriers can still transit.

The immediate tradable impact is via higher geopolitical and cyber risk premia rather than quantified supply loss. Brent and Dubai crudes are likely to gain a risk bid; LNG and tanker segments may see increased volatility. The dollar value of flows that depend on Hormuz is large enough that even a perceived increase in sabotage risk can move prices >1% intraday. Cybersecurity and communications-exposed equities, as well as Gulf bourses, are also indirectly affected.

Precedent is limited: there have been localized undersea cable cuts in the Middle East (e.g., 2008 FLAG/FALCON incidents) causing regional internet slowdowns and temporary operational disruptions, but those were accidents, not deliberate state-linked actions during a hot confrontation. In a conflict context, deliberate cable sabotage would be interpreted as a major escalation, inviting retaliation and creating a new front in hybrid warfare that could spill into energy infrastructure (onshore control systems, offshore platforms, traffic management).

Unless Iran moves from rhetoric to action, the market effect is a persistent but moderate risk repricing—an incremental layer on top of current U.S.–Iran hostilities. If any physical interference with cables is confirmed, expect a sharper, more durable re-rating of the risk premium on Gulf crude and LNG and potentially on global internet and financial infrastructure assets.

**AFFECTED ASSETS:** Brent Crude, WTI Crude, Dubai Crude, LNG spot prices Asia, Oil tanker equities, Shipping indices (e.g., BDTI, BCTI), GCC equity indices, Major Gulf sovereign CDS