Iran has announced a plan to take control over seven undersea internet cables that pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Not a war. Not a blockade. Simply: a new regulatory body, new licences for foreign operators, new taxes, a new requirement that everything passes through Iranian companies for technical maintenance.

Those cables are the bloodstream. Data traffic between Europe, Asia and the Gulf states runs through them - financial transactions, banking systems, the entire internet infrastructure. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard warned earlier that the cables were a potential target in any escalation, everyone treated it as a bad joke. That's no longer a threat; it's a regulatory reality.

For the Balkan economy this isn't far away. Nearly every bank transaction, every SWIFT message, every mobile payment travels through a global network in which Hormuz is one of the most critical points. If Tehran decides to slow down approvals for foreign operators - or, more likely, to drag them out - the consequences aren't „for Dubai." The consequences are for the real world, including you when you try to pay a bill on a Tuesday lunchtime.

At the same time, Iran sent a ten-point reply to the American peace offer. The message was transmitted via Pakistan. The terms aren't public for now, but the key phase of the ceasefire negotiations - according to diplomatic sources - clearly hinges on this.

The question isn't whether Tehran will control the cables. The question is whether the global market understands what it's watching. And why, every time a country gets power over digital infrastructure, the world reacts slowly, late, and with dollars instead of threats. Hormuz has already been a blockade for ships. Now it can be a blockade for data.