Dark tankers drift over Gulf cable routes as Iran issues threats

Tracking firm Windward saw four Iran-linked vessels loiter near subsea cables by Hormuz in October. No damage is reported, but the pattern is worrying.

Maritime intelligence firm Windward tracked three sanctioned Iran-linked tankers and one Iranian fishing boat near major undersea cables in the Gulf of Oman, close to the Strait of Hormuz, during October 2026. The Financial Times first reported the findings. Using ship-tracking data and satellite imagery, Windward saw some vessels slow down, loop around cable routes, then switch off their AIS transponders. Its October 26 blog post described two tankers drifting for days over cable corridors with no commercial reason and no commercial cargo. One corridor was for the 2Africa cable, which is under construction and owned by a consortium that includes Meta.

The geography is what makes this matter. Six active cables cross the strait, linking the Middle East to Europe, Africa and Asia, and two more have segments under construction. Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar depend entirely on subsea connections through it for outside connectivity. About a third of India's westbound internet traffic passes through the Persian Gulf and the strait.

The context is a war that began in February 2026 between Iran and the US and Israel. In May an IRGC spokesperson said Iran would impose fees on cables owned by US tech firms and others. On October 20 another spokesperson noted that seven major cables run through the strait. October saw the most ship attacks since the war began. Cable-laying and repair ships cannot work safely in the region, which has forced 2Africa to pause its expansion.

For connection, this is a single choke point carrying the internet access of whole countries. Repairs and new capacity are already stalled, so any damage would take longer to fix. US tech firms and Gulf states are now speeding up routes that bypass the strait. That would add resilience, but it will take time.

The caveats are significant. The ship behavior is circumstantial. Windward says only that it could mean mapping cable routes, or placing charges or mines while dark. No attack or damage by these vessels has been reported. Sources also differ on the cable count, six against seven. Iran's threats are conditional on renewed US escalation.

Source: Ars Technica