Australia, the UK, and the US agreed new measures to protect undersea cables and pipelines from sabotage, including the deployment of autonomous submarine drones.

Marine cables carry more than 95% of the world’s intercontinental telecommunications data and ever more electricity.

Australia’s defense minister said these “arteries of modern civilization” are being attacked at “historically unprecedented” rates, and the three nations pledged to improve reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare.

Iran, meanwhile, has suggested charging tolls on the data passing through cables off its shores, the author of a book on the undersea network noted; cables in the Strait of Hormuz carry about 20% of global data flow, giving Tehran another point of leverage over Washington.