Early this week, Iranian state-linked media floated a plan to charge the operators of undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz for access to what they say is Iran’s offshore territory.

The suggestion comes after Iranian warnings that several important cables in the strait were a vulnerable point for economies in the Middle East.

Iran’s comments expose an invisible foundation of the internet and globalisation itself: the web of more than 500 undersea cables that carries more than 95% of international data traffic.

We may think the internet lives in a kind of virtual cloud. But its physical underpinnings are vulnerable – and that vulnerability is becoming a very real geopolitical concern.

https://theconversation.com/iran-is-threatening-undersea-cables-the-worlds-digital-chokepoints-have-never-been-more-vulnerable-282425

... And there we have it... as if there were not already enough past evidence of Irans intentions to monetise and leverage their influence over the straits.

We don't see Singapore or Malaysia behaving the same over the straits of Malacca...

And people argue, why now ? why start a war with Iran ? - this is exactly why ? for years they have been making such underhanded threats leveraging their geography over the region - Oman doesn't behave like this.

This Iranian regime really needs to go - does not one of them realise it is this very behavior and ideology which pollutes their nation and tarnishes what 'could' be a wonderful region.