🇮🇷 Iran Demands Payment From Google, Microsoft, and Meta for Strait of Hormuz Cables
Tehran has announced licensing fees on submarine fiber-optic cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz, targeting U.S. tech giants including Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon.
The IRGC-linked framework runs in three stages: initial licensing charges, mandatory compliance with Iranian law, and EXCLUSIVE Iranian control over cable maintenance and repair.
There is one problem. U.S. sanctions law makes it ILLEGAL for American companies to send payments to Iranian entities, meaning compliance is not a legal option.
Iran knows this. The demand is leverage, not an invoice.
NEW: Iran has defined the boundaries of the Strait of Hormuz management supervision area as follows: "The line connecting Kuh Mobarak in Iran and the south of Fujairah in the UAE in the east of the strait to the line connecting the end of Qeshm Island in Iran and Umm al-Qaiwain in the UAE in the west of the strait."
Three numbers on this chart are actively disrupted right now.
Iran (n.3, 27 BCF/d): at war, Hormuz nearly closed, gas flows to global markets severely constrained.
Russia (n.2, 59 BCF/d): pipeline routes to Europe structurally curtailed, refinery infrastructure under drone attack.
Qatar (n.6, 20 BCF/d): LNG infrastructure damaged, North Field exports disrupted.
Together that's over 100 BCF/d of production under active geopolitical pressure.
Which leaves the US, Canada, Australia and Norway carrying the world's swing supply.
The US alone at 108 BCF/d is the single largest buffer between global gas markets and a full supply crisis.
In today’s energy landscape, gas and LNG infrastructure are not just physical capacity it is geopolitical leverage, price stability, and strategic flexibility.
BREAKING: Iran built a Crypto powered shipping Insurance toll to bypass SWIFT and Western sanctions.
Reports suggest Iran has already experimented with crypto payments tied to oil shipping, with some vessels transiting Hormuz allegedly asked to pay fees in Bitcoin, Tether, or Chinese yuan for “safe passage.”
In past cases, Iran already collected fees as high as $2 million per tanker via crypto, processed through blockchain transfers instead of traditional banks for faster confirmation and to evade sanctions.
Under the reported system, ship operators could purchase insurance coverage using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies instead of traditional banking rails tied to SWIFT.
Countries facing sanctions, including Russia, have increasingly explored crypto settlement systems for oil trade and cross-border payments with partners like China and India.