Technology
Iran's security chief warns Gulf data centres could be attacked if war with the US resumes
Al Jazeera reports the warning follows drone strikes on AWS facilities in March and a September Jeddah cable cut with no confirmed cause.
The short version
- Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned that cables, data centres and AI facilities across the region could be attacked if war with the United States resumes.[Al Jazeera]
- A senior lecturer in security studies at King's College London, Andreas Krieg, said an attack need not destroy servers to render a facility inoperable.[Al Jazeera]
- AWS said in March that drones directly struck two of its UAE facilities, and a September cable cut near Jeddah has no confirmed cause.[Al Jazeera]
- Gulf tech investment continues, including Iraq's September contract with Qatar's Ooredoo to carry Gulf data to Europe and a Microsoft pledge above $10bn through 2030.[Al Jazeera]
Key facts
- Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned that cables, data centres and AI facilities across the region could be attacked if war with the United States erupts again.[Al Jazeera]
- More than 90 percent of data capacity between Europe and Asia passes through cables under the Red Sea, according to TeleGeography estimates.[Al Jazeera]
- Tasnim reported on March 11 that the IRGC published a list of new targets including cloud infrastructure of Google, Microsoft and Oracle in Israel and some Gulf states.[Al Jazeera]
- Amazon Web Services said in March that two of its UAE facilities were directly struck by drones, and a strike near a Bahrain facility caused physical impact.[Al Jazeera]
- Two cables were cut near Jeddah in September 2025, slowing internet access across the Middle East and South Asia; no cause has been confirmed.[Al Jazeera]
- Iraq signed a contract with Qatar's Ooredoo on September 10 to carry data from the Gulf to Europe across its territory, according to Iraq's Ministry of Communications.[Al Jazeera]
- Microsoft said in September it would invest more than $10bn in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE through 2030.[Al Jazeera]
What remains uncertain
- The threatened attacks are conditional on war with the United States resuming, and no attack plan is established in the reporting.[Al Jazeera]
- The cause of the September 2025 cable cuts near Jeddah has not been confirmed.[Al Jazeera]
Sources
Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.