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Iran’s A.I. Hostage Crisis

American tech companies have constructed dozens of data centers in the Middle East, all within striking distance of Iran. Recent attacks on A.W.S. facilities in Bahrain and the U.A.E. show how they’ve become geopolitical casualties of the U.S.–Israeli war.

Donald Trump, UAE
Naturally, these relationships were turbocharged by President Trump, who, in May of last year, announced $200 billion in commercial deals between the U.S. and the U.A.E. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images
Ian Krietzberg
April 7, 2026

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Donald Trump was supposed to be Silicon Valley’s president, but history rarely plays out according to plan. The morning after the U.S. and Israel began their airstrikes on Iran on February 28, Iranian drones hit several Amazon data centers—two in the U.A.E. and one in Bahrain. The strikes, according to the company, “caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage.” By the end of the month, another Amazon data center in Bahrain was reportedly struck. (Amazon did not return a request for comment, but a spokesperson pointed me to an A.W.S. blog post noting that its “Bahrain Region has been disrupted as a result of the ongoing conflict.”)