Iran’s military has followed through on threats to attack American technology companies in the Middle East, striking Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure in Bahrain on April 1 and, according to Iranian state media, an Oracle data centre in Dubai on April 2, in what analysts are calling a dangerous new front in modern warfare.
The attacks came one day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) named 18 companies as “legitimate targets,” including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Cisco, HP, Intel, Oracle, IBM, Dell, Palantir, JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, Boeing, General Electric, Spire Solutions, and the United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm G42. The warning, posted on an IRGC-affiliated Telegram channel and amplified through the semi-official Tasnim news service, set an attack deadline of 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, Tehran time, and urged employees to evacuate their workplaces.
“Since the main element in designing and tracking terror targets are American information and communications technology (ICT) and AI companies, in response to these terrorist operations, from now on, the main institutions effective in terrorist operations will be our legitimate targets,” the IRGC said.
The strike on Amazon’s cloud business in Bahrain was confirmed by the Financial Times, which cited a person familiar with the matter. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said civil defence forces were “extinguishing a fire in a facility of a company as a result of the Iranian aggression,” without naming the company.
Iran first attacked AWS data centres in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on March 1, causing major disruption to services. At the time, Amazon advised Middle East customers to shift workloads to other regions. The April 1 strike on the same Bahrain facility marks at least the fourth time AWS infrastructure in the Gulf has been targeted since the conflict intensified, according to reports.
Before dawn on March 1, 2026, Iranian Shahed drones struck two Amazon Web Services data centres in the United Arab Emirates. This is the first time a country has deliberately targeted commercial data centres during wartime.
Intel responded publicly to the IRGC threat. “The safety and wellbeing of our team is our number one priority,” a spokesperson said. “We are taking steps to safeguard and support our workers and facilities in the Middle East and are actively monitoring the situation.” Microsoft, Google, and JPMorgan Chase declined to comment.
The IRGC’s targeting of tech companies follows broader fighting in which Iran launched drones targeting communications, telecommunications, and industrial centres in Israel, including facilities linked to Siemens and AT&T in Haifa, while Kuwait reported an Iranian drone attack on Kuwait International Airport’s fuel depots and Bahrain reported a fire at a company facility following a separate Iranian strike.
The scale of violence has grown considerably since late February. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran has the “necessary will” to end the war provided guarantees that the United States and Israel would not attack again, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he is in contact with U.S. counterparts. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he expected U.S. forces to leave Iran within two to three weeks, and addressed the nation on Wednesday evening.
Researchers have noted that commercial data centres are large, relatively fragile, and lack dedicated air defences, suggesting those in the UAE and Bahrain may present targets of opportunity. AWS has already told customers to enact disaster recovery plans and reroute traffic away from affected Middle East regions, and waived all usage charges for its Middle East Central region for March 2026.
The conflict has put years of heavy technology investment in the Gulf at serious risk. American technology firms have funnelled billions into Middle Eastern AI infrastructure, drawn by the region’s relatively low energy costs and available land. Amazon alone announced plans to build a $5.3 billion data centre in Saudi Arabia, due to become available in 2026. That investment, along with the broader Gulf AI buildout, now faces an uncertain security environment with no clear end to the fighting in sight.
