Major US technology companies have been named as potential targets as the war between Iran, Israel and the United States begins to spill into the digital infrastructure that powers modern economies.
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Iranian state-linked media this week published a list of offices and infrastructure run by American companies with Israeli links whose technology has been used for military applications. According to Al Jazeera, the companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle.
Many of these companies operate regional offices, cloud infrastructure or data-centre operations across the Gulf, including in the UAE. None have released public statements on this development.
The list was published by the semi-official, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Tasnim News Agency alongside a warning that the scope of the conflict could expand beyond traditional military targets.
“As the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” Tasnim News Agency reported.
Last week, Iranian drone strikes damaged Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in the UAE and Bahrain, disrupting services and exposing the vulnerability of physical tech infrastructure in the region.
The warning followed Iranian reports of an Israeli strike on a bank building in Tehran linked to Bank Sepah. Iranian officials have described it as an attack on economic infrastructure.
Iranian state media said the incident justified expanding potential targets to include US and Israeli economic and banking interests across the region.
“With this illegitimate and uncommon action, the enemy is forcing our hand to target economic centres and banks linked to the US and Zionist regime in the region,” said a spokesperson for the IRGC-owned Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters. He warned civilians to stay one kilometre away from banks.