Iran demands Big Tech pay fees for undersea Internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

LurkandComment

The Strait of Hormuz is a such a historical f-up. 1) It cuts the oil supply 2) It creates the demand and infrastructure for non-US backed Oil 3) It gives Iran a revenue stream and domain over taxing the Strait where none existed before 4) Crypto happens outstide of reach of most sanctions 5) Not knowing your footing: This has now encompassed the placement of underseas cables and global connectivity 5) As time goes one, there are other shoes that will drop 6) Even if this resolves, things like decoupling the USD and Oil now have momemntum.

alwaysdoit

Aren't US citizens and corporations prohibited from paying anything to Iran due to sanctions?

CommanderData

Completely avoidable and optional btw. Thanks Trump and Bibi! The whole world suffers for these two men.

bilekas

It's fine guys, the DOW is at 50k.

Hamuko

Looking at the map, I am failing to understand why any of the named American Big Tech companies would risk breaking sanctions to protect these cables. Why not just threaten your neighbouring countries instead? They have some skin in the game.

woah

Iran's chief strategy in this war seems to be to harm Iraq and Saudi Arabia

tcdent

Article claims this primarily affects US tech companies. Then refuses to elaborate on who and how.

tomhow

Previously: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183031 - May 2026 (135 comments)

underlipton

I would like many, many other entities and institutions to demand Big Tech (and large multinationals writ large) pay up, in general. Their coffers were filled by people unknowingly giving away valuable resources, which these companies then sold on for their true worth; in a more just world, users would have been able to sell those resources at actual fair value, and then use the income to pay for the tech industry's services out-of-pocket. The "shakedown" is a little uncouth, but preferable to the alternative we've been living for almost 2 decades.

maxglute

There's ongoing geopolitical undersea cable war between US trying to kill PRC undersea / digital silkroad projects for years, it be interesting asymmetric warfare for PRC to support Iran crippling western cables powering western data centers OR building up some leverage so regional data centers has to go through some % of Chinese pipes. TBH one of the easiest way to effectively undermine US compute / ecosystem advantage is to normalize splinternet and reduce network effects (and no spacex / megaconstellation won't have bandwidth to replace). The premise of 100s of billions to buy US hardware to support/integrate into US ecosystem breaks if the literal physical link breaks. And not many regions out there with 100s of billions of surplus burn on US hardware. Iran knows whats up. Don't get me wrong, everyone loses from cutting cables, but some lose much more. That said, I can see a future of siloed sovereign internet, where regional cables are constantly degraded.