The flames of war have spread to the technology sector! The Amazon Middle East cloud computing center has been attacked, with more infrastructure becoming targets.

On Thursday local time, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran said it launched an attack on an Amazon cloud computing center located in Bahrain, in retaliation for a U.S. military action carried out earlier.

In an IRGC statement, it said: “This operation is the first real warning issued to the enemy. If the relevant warnings are ignored and assassination operations continue, we will impose even harsher penalties on the next batch of already named companies. By then, these companies will bear full responsibility for being completely destroyed in the region, and that responsibility will be assumed by the U.S. president personally.”

Bahrain’s authorities confirmed that after Iranian attacks on Amazon infrastructure, the civil defense department was putting out fires at the scene. This was also the second attack within the past two days targeting Amazon infrastructure in Bahrain.

On Thursday, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Zayani told the United Nations Security Council that he hoped the Council would vote on a resolution drafted by Bahrain on Friday. The resolution is intended to protect commercial shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding waters.

Earlier this week, the IRGC designated companies and institutions related to 18 U.S. information and communications technology and artificial intelligence (AI) firms in the Middle East as targets for attacks. However, Amazon was not included in that list.

The released list includes multiple major U.S. technology companies, such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as hardware suppliers such as HP, Intel, IBM, and Cisco. In addition, companies such as Tesla, Nvidia, Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, and Boeing are also on the list.

Iran alleges that these companies provide support for the U.S. military actions and defines them as “lawful targets of attack,” believing they should be held responsible for actions related to Iran. “From now on, for every assassination incident that occurs, one U.S. company will be destroyed.”

These threats from Iran are aimed at the facilities and personnel of U.S. companies in the Middle East—not at office locations within the United States itself. But this warning has pulled these U.S. firms directly into a conflict that has already driven fuel prices to historic highs and disrupted global supply chains.

As part of the large-scale AI infrastructure buildout in the Middle East, Microsoft and Amazon have invested tens of billions of dollars into data centers in Gulf countries. The IRGC accuses the technical support provided by these companies of enabling the joint U.S.-Israeli military actions against Iran.

Last week, Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported that its Bahrain region experienced a service disruption, which was linked to drone activity related to the conflict in the Middle East.

At the time, an Amazon spokesperson said the company was helping customers migrate services to other AWS regions while also working to restore operations at the affected sites. As Amazon’s cloud computing division, AWS supports the operation of many widely used websites and government systems, and is also an important source of profit for the company.

In addition to the technology companies mentioned above, Iran has also listed multiple bridges as potential military strike targets, including bridges located in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan.

It is reported that on Thursday, the Beyk Bridge on the Iranshian Karaj City Beik Highway—an iconic engineering project in Iran—was damaged by attacks from the United States and Israel. The attacks damaged the main structural components of the bridge, and the relevant road sections have been fully closed. Local authorities issued an emergency alert urging people to avoid the area. The attacks also led to a power outage in parts of Karaj.

U.S. President Trump later posted that Iran’s biggest bridge collapsed and can never be used again—there will be more to come! It’s time for Iran to reach an agreement, so it’s not too late.

(Source: Caixin Global)