Iran IRGC calls out and retaliates against U.S. companies! Bahrain’s AWS data center was hit by an airstrike and caught fire; computing power becomes a strategic target

The conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel continues to escalate, with hostilities spreading from traditional military and energy infrastructure to digital infrastructure. Foreign media reports indicate that the AWS data center located in Bahrain has once again become a target affected by the conflict. Earlier, Iran’s elite unit Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) publicly warned that it would take action against U.S. technology and financial companies operating in the Middle East; the list includes major tech firms such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta.

In fact, as early as the beginning of March, Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes by retaliating against the countries hosting U.S. military bases south of the Persian Gulf. The AWS data center in the United Arab Emirates had previously caught fire after being struck by an object, resulting in power outages and system failures. As AI becomes a core element of national power competition, cloud computing and processing capacity are no longer merely commercial assets but are now strategic national resources. If the conflict further escalates, key nodes such as data centers, cloud regions, and undersea cables are highly likely to become primary targets for attack.

AWS Bahrain data center suspected to have been hit by an Iranian airstrike

According to reports from foreign media outlets such as the Financial Times and Reuters, the AWS data center in Bahrain was reportedly damaged during an Iranian airstrike. The local Ministry of Interior only confirmed that a business facility caught fire, without directly naming Amazon; however, multiple sources indicate that this facility is one of AWS’s infrastructure sites. This marks the second time in the Middle East that AWS has experienced service disruption or damage due to conflict, following the incident in the UAE in March.

Iran’s elite unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has previously issued a public warning that it will take action against U.S. technology and financial companies operating in the Middle East, including major firms such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta. The IRGC further accused these companies of participating in intelligence and military support activities, and designated them as “legitimate targets,” demonstrating that strategic objectives have expanded from military bases to digital and information infrastructure.

From an infrastructure perspective, AWS is not just a typical enterprise service provider. It is a core cloud platform supporting global websites, financial systems, and government operations, and it is also one of Amazon’s most significant profit sources. Once regional nodes are compromised, the impact extends beyond a single company to the entire regional digital economy, including e-commerce, SaaS, fintech, and AI inference services.

In early March, the AWS data center in the UAE also caught fire

In early March, Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes by launching retaliatory actions against the countries hosting U.S. military bases south of the Persian Gulf. The AWS data center in the UAE was struck by an object, caught fire, and experienced power outages and system failures. AWS publicly acknowledged that services in the Middle East had experienced “disruption” due to the conflict and advised customers to migrate workloads to other regions.

(Airstrike on the UAE by Iran, AWS data center on fire! Trillions of dollars in AI compute power becoming a strategic resource)

This series of attacks and threats is reshaping the logic of warfare. While conflicts over the past decade have focused on oil facilities and shipping routes, they are now extending into “compute infrastructure.” Data centers not only host enterprise services but also directly support AI model training and inference capabilities, making their strategic value comparable to energy and communications nodes.

From the fire at the UAE AWS facility in March to the damage at the Bahrain site this time, a clear evolution path is evident: as AI becomes the core of national power competition, cloud and processing capacity are no longer just commercial assets but are now strategic national resources. If conflicts further escalate, key nodes such as data centers, cloud regions, and undersea cables are highly likely to become primary targets, and the stability of the global digital economy will face unprecedented challenges.

This article, “Iran IRGC Names Targets to Retaliate Against U.S. Companies! Bahrain AWS Data Center Hit by Airstrike and Catches Fire; Computing Power Becomes a Strategic Target,” first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.