#ICYMI: US-Iran war may lead internet shutdown if conflict spreads to Red Sea cable

Meta has also confirmed a pause in its 2Africa project.

Underwater cable cut (AI image generated via Gemini Nano Banana 2)

Possible internet connectivity threat

The escalating US-Iran conflict threatens more than just regional security and global oil supplies—it now poses a direct risk to global internet connectivity.

According to The Times of India, the most immediate sign that the war is spreading into digital infrastructure was when tech giant Meta confirmed to Bloomberg that it has paused part of its 2Africa project. The project is a 45,000-kilometre underwater cable system that was set to expand internet connectivity across Africa and the Gulf region.

The pause affects a section running through Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia, a portion that Meta had planned to launch as early as this year.

Alcatel Submarine Networks has also issued force majeure notices to customers and reported the stranding of its installation ship, the Ile De Batz, off the coast of Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Under the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, hundreds of fibre optic cables on the ocean floor carry more than 95 percent of all global internet traffic. This means your emails, video calls, and cloud services to financial transactions and streaming are dependent on these cables, the Times of India report noted.

Capacity Global said that at least 17 submarine cables run through the Red Sea alone, forming a critical data corridor connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Strait of Hormuz is equally vital, with key cable systems including AAE-1, FALCON, Gulf Bridge International Cable System, and Tata TGN Gulf, according to TeleGeography.

The cables connect to data centers built by companies including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to billions of users worldwide.

These can be easily damaged, for instance, last year, a Red Sea cable cut impacted internet services in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East countries after a commercial ship reportedly dragged its anchor and severed several undersea internet cables.

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Via: Times of India, Bloomberg