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  • Written by Dennis Murphy, Ph.D. Student of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Before dawn on March 1, 2026, Iranian Shahed drones struck two Amazon Web Services data centers[1] in the United Arab Emirates. A third commercial data center in Bahrain was hit[2], though it is less clear whether it was deliberately targeted. Iran has also indicated that it considers commercial data centers to be targets[3].

This is the first time that a country has deliberately targeted commercial data centers during wartime. Data centers have been targets of espionage and cyberattacks in the past, notably when Ukrainian hackers destroyed data stored in a Russian military-affiliated data center[4] in 2024. This, however, was a physical attack. Drones damaged buildings.

Advances in artificial intelligence have increased the importance of data centers[5]. The U.S. military, in particular, has made great use of AI systems for decision support[6] in its attacks on Iran and Venezuela. Given how important data centers are, Iranian forces could be targeting the infrastructure Iran’s leaders believe is supporting strikes on Iran.

It is not altogether clear that these particular data centers were used by the U.S. military. Instead, the attacks may have been part of a broader effort to punish the United Arab Emirates for its ties with the U.S.

In my experience as a Ph.D. candidate[7] at Georgia Tech studying how technology drives changes in international security, I don’t think the attacks signal any significant change in the nature of warfare. But they are forcing nations to recognize that data centers are targets of war – even if they don’t directly support military operations.

Data centers and the cloud

The United States military is increasingly incorporating advanced AI capabilities into its decision support systems[8]. From the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro[9] to supporting military strikes against Iran[10], the U.S. has been using AI, especially Anthropic’s Claude, for intelligence analysis and operational support.

AI is unlocking faster ways to carry out operations in war, but the AI tools the military often uses are not located on a plane or ship. When a service member uses Claude, the computing infrastructure that powers the model and its analysis usually goes to a secure Amazon Web Services cloud that hosts secret government data[11] and software tools.

The basics of data centers explained.

Commercial data centers are where the cloud lives. The next time you pull up Netflix and watch your favorite shows, you are likely streaming the programming from a data center, possibly AWS[12]. When AWS data centers go down, outages affect all sorts of entertainment, news and government functions[13].

With AI as a driver of economic growth, data centers are key forms of infrastructure. They ensure that AI can continue to run, as well as much of the underlying internet that governments and industry rely on. When Iran attacked the UAE’s data centers, it caused widespread disruption to the local banking system[14].

Commercial data centers enable most of the technology that runs the modern world, including AI systems. Disrupting them is key to disrupting the military and society of a country. Given that AWS provides and operates many of the commercial data centers where the cloud lives, it is likely that its data centers will continue to be targeted in conflict.

Going after US allies

Researchers at Just Security noted[15] on March 12, 2026, that the United States requires cloud-computing service providers to store government and military data within the U.S. or on Department of Defense bases[16]: “Moving such data to Amazon data centers in the Gulf region would require special authorization; we are unaware if that has been granted.”

Nevertheless, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the strikes were against data centers supporting “the enemy’s” military and intelligence activities. And 10 days after the initial attack on the data centers, an Iranian news agency claimed that major tech company data centers and other physical assets in the region were considered “enemy technology infrastructure[17].”

Instead of military reasons, Iran may well have targeted the UAE to rattle the global economy and garner attention[18]. Given the prominence of the Gulf as a major recipient of U.S. technological investment[19], the attack may also have been a symbolic one aimed at the heart of U.S.-Gulf cooperation. AI infrastructure such as commercial data centers is a growing part of U.S. leadership in the region[20], and this war could jeopardize the future of AI infrastructure in the Gulf.

men wearingwhite robes and headdresses stand over a model of an industrial park
This model shows a massive data center, part of the Stargate project involving U.S. tech companies, currently under construction in the United Arab Emirates. Giuseppe CACACE/AFP via Getty Images[21]

Growing importance, easy targets

Though data centers are increasingly important for national security, the economy and society at large, it can be tempting to suggest these strikes represent a fundamental shift in the nature of war. While that is a possibility, it is important to remember that Iran launched thousands of missiles and drones at targets in the UAE. Though the vast majority were intercepted, the two that struck data centers are a small portion of the ones that got through to civilian targets in UAE territory, including strikes on airports and hotels[22].

The relative vulnerability of commercial data centers – they are large, relatively fragile and lack dedicated air defenses – suggests that the ones in the UAE may have been targets of opportunity or convenience. In other words, they were hit because they could be hit.

Nevertheless, it seems likely that as the use of AI tools and other cloud-based resources continues to grow in importance for countries around the world, commercial data centers will be targets in future conflicts.

References

  1. ^ struck two Amazon Web Services data centers (www.theguardian.com)
  2. ^ was hit (www.cnbc.com)
  3. ^ to be targets (www.cbsnews.com)
  4. ^ destroyed data stored in a Russian military-affiliated data center (kyivindependent.com)
  5. ^ importance of data centers (www.techtimes.com)
  6. ^ for decision support (theconversation.com)
  7. ^ a Ph.D. candidate (scholar.google.com)
  8. ^ into its decision support systems (theconversation.com)
  9. ^ capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (www.wsj.com)
  10. ^ military strikes against Iran (www.axios.com)
  11. ^ hosts secret government data (aws.amazon.com)
  12. ^ possibly AWS (www.euronews.com)
  13. ^ affect all sorts of entertainment, news and government functions (www.nbcnews.com)
  14. ^ the local banking system (www.tomshardware.com)
  15. ^ Just Security noted (www.justsecurity.org)
  16. ^ within the U.S. or on Department of Defense bases (www.acquisition.gov)
  17. ^ enemy technology infrastructure (www.euronews.com)
  18. ^ rattle the global economy and garner attention (www.cnbc.com)
  19. ^ U.S. technological investment (thehill.com)
  20. ^ a growing part of U.S. leadership in the region (warontherocks.com)
  21. ^ Giuseppe CACACE/AFP via Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com)
  22. ^ including strikes on airports and hotels (www.euronews.com)

Authors: Dennis Murphy, Ph.D. Student of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Read more https://theconversation.com/why-iran-targeted-amazon-data-centers-and-what-that-does-and-doesnt-change-about-warfare-278642