# [WARNING] Iran Threatens Undersea Gulf Internet Cables Amid Rising Tensions

*Saturday, October 24, 2026 at 6:03 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Detected**: 2026-10-24T18:03:20.447Z (2h ago)
**Tags**: MARKET, energy, Middle East, geopolitics, risk-premium, infrastructure
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/alerts/27897.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Summary**: Iranian security officials reportedly told Reuters Tehran has prepared plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the US and Israel renew military attacks. While no action has occurred, markets will interpret this as an escalation in Iran’s coercive toolkit that could disrupt financial flows, energy trading logistics, and risk sentiment in a conflict scenario.

## Detail

1) What happened: According to a Reuters-cited intelligence leak, Iranian security officials say they have developed contingency plans to strike undersea communications cables in the Persian Gulf in response to any renewed US or Israeli military operations against Iran. Parallel reporting shows Trump administration officials weighing major strikes on Iranian infrastructure and the US already reducing staffing at several Middle East embassies due to elevated Iranian threat activity.

2) Supply/demand impact: The statement alone does not alter physical oil or gas flows today, but it introduces a credible threat to critical digital infrastructure underpinning shipping logistics, trading, and financial settlement in one of the world’s key energy chokepoints. Severe damage to multiple cables in a conflict scenario could cause outages or latency spikes for Gulf states’ financial centers and national oil companies, complicating terminal operations, vessel routing, and hedging activity. In an escalatory environment, this would act as an additional friction, potentially delaying cargoes and amplifying any physical disruptions from direct strikes on energy infrastructure.

3) Affected commodities/assets and direction: This development is bullish for Brent and WTI via risk premium, particularly when layered on Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and prospects of renewed US–Iran confrontation. It also supports safe havens (gold, JPY, CHF) and could pressure regional equities and FX (especially GCC bourses, Qatari and Emirati assets) on tail-risk repricing. While not directly about pipelines or LNG, markets view threats to communications cables in the Gulf as part of a broader hybrid warfare toolkit that could accompany efforts to close or partially disrupt Hormuz.

4) Historical precedent: There is limited direct precedent for deliberate wartime cutting of undersea cables in modern energy markets, but even accidental cable cuts (e.g., in the Mediterranean) have previously caused regional internet disruptions and short-lived jitters. In combination with explicit military threats, investors are likely to extrapolate to worst-case chokepoint scenarios, similar to how missile tests near Hormuz historically add several dollars to crude over days.

5) Duration: As long as US–Iran tensions remain high and Washington openly discusses major strikes, this threat will linger as a structural risk premium component in Gulf assets and crude benchmarks. Absent actual sabotage, the near-term price impact is modest but persistent; realized cable attacks would trigger a far more material and abrupt repricing.

**AFFECTED ASSETS:** Brent Crude, WTI Crude, Gold, GCC equity indices, USD/QAR, USD/AED