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What Iran’s Targeting of Commercial Data Centres Means for the Future of Warfare
Shayan Hassan Jamy
Analysis Series– Shayan Hassan Jamy
Analysis//0026/May/2026/London-Dialogue. 26 May 2026
For Palantir CEO Alex Karp, whose ‘tech manifesto’ asserts that “Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defence of the nation,” the private sector plays a crucial role in US warfighting efforts. Karp’s sentiment has increasingly begun to be shared not only by the majority of Silicon Valley elites and the US establishment but also, surprisingly, by a major adversary of the US: Iran. Iran’s targeting of commercial data centres during the recent war with the US and Israel indicates that the era of overt involvement of the private sector in warfare has well and truly begun. With Iranian drones directly targeting the data centres of Amazon and Oracle and given the central role that artificial intelligence (AI) has already begun to play on the battlefield, it is increasingly likely that such commercial infrastructure will be considered as legitimate military targets in future conflicts.
Iran’s Targeting of Commercial Data Centres
For Iran, major US technology companies have been complicit in the US-Israeli military offensive, and their data centres and infrastructure constitute legitimate targets for both kinetic and cyber-attacks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that “as the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands.” In line with this declaration, Iranian Shahed 136 drones targeted Amazon’s data centres in both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain on March 1st, 2026, leading to significant damage and resulting in major disruption of cloud services across the region. The drones directly struck two Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in the UAE and caused “structural damage, disrupted power delivery to infrastructure, and, in some cases, required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage.” An AWS data centre in Bahrain was also targeted, with the drone strike resulting in indirect damage.
Given the wide range of civilian applications supported by AWS data centres in the region, there were major disruptions in banking services, online payment systems, food delivery platforms and more. The exact disruption caused to US-Israeli military operations was less clear. Following the attacks, however, Amazon was forced to keep their systems offline and even advised its clients to secure their data outsidethe region. By Amazon’s own accounts, restoration of the cloud computing operations in the UAE and Bahrain is expected to take several months. Iran stated that its objective behind the attacks was to “identify the role of these centres in supporting the enemy’s military and intelligence activities”. Indeed, Iran named the assets of major US technological companies, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Meta, Palantir, Nvidia, JP Morgan, Boeing and more, as legitimate targets. The IRGC stated that “these companies should expect the destruction of their respective units in exchange for each terror act in Iran”.
More recently, Iran claimed to have attacked an Oracle data centre in the UAE on April 2nd. The IRGC has also threatened to destroy OpenAI’s $30 billion Stargate data centre in the UAE. The Stargate data centre is projected to house up to 500,000 Nvidia Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and would be the “largest concentration of AI compute capacity outside the US” if completed. It’s also important to note that Iran was itself on the receiving end of such attacks. On March 11th, the data centres of Iran’s state-run Bank Sepah were attacked, resulting in online banking and payment services being severely disrupted. There is no doubt, then, that the targeting of data centres and similar commercial infrastructure is not an isolated incident; rather, it is a sustained military strategy that will likely become a common feature of future warfare.
Importance of Data Centres for US-Israeli Military Operations against Iran
Iran’s drone strikes showcase just how crucial data centres have become for modern military operations. Indeed, both the US and Israel extensively used AI-enabled systems and cloud computing in their military offensive against Iran, capabilities which rely heavily on data centres to function. Data centres can be thought of as the physical foundation off of which the digital infrastructure is built, or to put it simply, it is the hardware that allows the software to operate and work efficiently. Advanced AI systems, which have become a central part of military operations, require data centres in the same way that nuclear warheads need missiles to be deployed on the battlefield.
During Operation Epic Fury, the US made “unprecedented use of AI”. Palantir’s Maven Smart System (MSS), in particular, was used to “synthesise the data and make better decisions, faster, on the battlefield”, as stated by the Pentagon’s Chief Digital & AI Officer Cameron Stanley. During the operation, the use of MSS surged dramatically, with unclassified usage reportedly increasing by 38%, classified usage by 89%, and peak daily usage by over 4000%. Similarly, Anthropic’s Claude is another AI system that was utilised repeatedly during the recent war. Claude’s usage is also directly linked to Iran’s targeting of AWS data centres, as every time the AI system is used during a military operation, its analysis is sent to a secure AWS cloud that is dedicated for sensitive government data.
Ultimately, Palantir and Anthropic are only a few of the US technology companies that are pivotal to the US military’s warfighting efforts. All of the 18 companies labelled by the IRGC as legitimate targets, and more, have not only closely cooperated with the US military for decades but have now increasingly begun to reproduce the hegemonic rhetoric typically associated with the current Trump administration. Going forward, as AI-related breakthroughs continue to be seen at such a rapid pace, and the need for greater computing power to support the software increases simultaneously, the central role of data centres in military operations will grow substantially. What that also means, of course, is that the very same data centres will increasingly begin to be seen as legitimate targets by adversaries.
Analysis
The targeting of commercial and civilian infrastructure is certainly not a new phenomenon in warfare. Indeed, during the recent war, both the US and Israel repeatedly targeted Iranian bridges, steel-manufacturing factories, educational institutions, oil and gas facilities and more. However, Iran’s targeting of the data centres of private companies is significant for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the interconnected nature of the modern digital ecosystem means that a wide range of both civilian and military infrastructure depends on data centres to function and operate efficiently. As was discussed regarding Iran’s targeting of the AWS data centres in the UAE and Bahrain, many civilians were unable to conduct a host of essential tasks. With the restoration of services expected to take several months, such attacks have the potential to cripple a state’s economic and social foundation. The targeting of data centres, then, would act as a sort of psychological warfare against the state’s population. Military operations, too, would be severely disrupted, particularly those related to advanced AI-enabled systems and cloud computing.
Secondly, it is becoming increasingly difficult to draw boundaries between the civilian and military sectors, particularly when it comes to AI. Silicon Valley has become deeply entrenched within the US military-industrial complex, and major technology elites have increasingly begun to echo the official state narrative. Major US technology companies have played a central role in the US-Israeli military operations against Iran, as has been discussed, and there is no indication of a future change in trajectory. Indeed, the very data centres which Iran targeted had been used for military purposes during the war. Data centres and similar commercial infrastructure, then, will likely increasingly begin to be considered as legitimate military targets.
Thirdly, Iran’s targeting of data centres provided them with a symbolic victory and allowed them to bring into question the presence of private companies in the region. In recent years, the Gulf has been pushed as a potential global AI hub, as has been discussed through the Stargate project. By targeting these data centres, the long-term presence of such projects has been brought into question, with some major technology companies already deciding to halt their operations in the region. Pure DC, a US-based data centre company, paused regional investment in AI infrastructure projects and data centres following their data centres being indirectly damaged during the Iranian drone strikes. The company’s CEO, Gary Wojtaszek, stated that “no one wants to develop new data centres and put new GPUs in until things get settled”. Iran’s targeting of data centres, then, has certainly achieved its stated objectives.
Shayan Hassan Jamy is an Assistant Researcher at London Dialogue.
Shayan Hassan Jamy
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