Two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters that Tehran has developed detailed plans to strike undersea communications cables in the Persian Gulf if hostilities with the United States and Israel resume. The officials, who spoke anonymously, did not disclose specific targets or explain how Iran would carry out the attacks.

One official said Iran would also attempt to prevent repairs after any strike, potentially extending disruptions to internet connectivity and other communications services. The official warned that if Iran were attacked again, “there will be no more red lines.”

The second official argued that Gulf nations aligned with Washington should hold the United States responsible for any damage to undersea cables, pointing to the substantial investments those countries have made in digital infrastructure.

The reported plans follow public warnings from Iranian military officials. Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani, a political deputy to the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday that Iran could destroy seven major cables passing beneath the Strait of Hormuz if Iranian infrastructure were attacked.

Iranian officials have also threatened other technology assets in the region. Senior security official Mohsen Rezaei warned earlier this month that a renewed conflict could put U.S.-linked data centers and artificial intelligence facilities across the Gulf at risk.

The potential consequences of an undersea cable attack would depend on the location and number of cables damaged. More than 99% of international data traffic travels through undersea cables, according to the International Telecommunication Union, but telecommunications research firm TeleGeography estimates that less than 1% of global international bandwidth passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Alan Mauldin, TeleGeography’s research director, said the Red Sea would be a more consequential potential target. Capacity routed through the Red Sea accounts for about 3% of global international demand and approximately 10% of traffic between regions, he estimated. Iran has not publicly threatened cables in the Red Sea, although its Houthi allies in Yemen could potentially complicate security there.

Even localized damage could disrupt financial transactions, e-commerce and cloud computing, analysts told Reuters. Multiple cable cuts could slow internet service, while higher insurance costs and delays in obtaining repair permits could prolong outages during a conflict.

Iran has previously attacked or damaged digital infrastructure in the Gulf during the conflict with the United States and Israel. Amazon Web Services said two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates were directly struck in March, while a facility in Bahrain was damaged by a drone that landed nearby.

Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Tehran’s threats appear intended to deter another military confrontation by increasing concerns among Gulf governments and U.S. companies about the security of their investments.

The State Department and Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Gulf governments had not issued immediate public responses to the reported cable threats.