Iran has launched drone strikes against Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain, marking what appears to be the world's first military attack against US hyperscalers. The rapid expansion of American-owned data centers in the Middle East has opened a new front for Iranian retaliation against the US, complicating Gulf ambitions to build multibillion-dollar AI facilities in the region.

Amazon confirmed that two of its UAE facilities were "directly struck" by drones, knocking out two of the group's three availability zones. The attacks took down services across the region, affecting consumer apps including online banking. AWS is working to recover services while recommending customers migrate workloads to alternate regions, creating complex and expensive challenges for corporate clients.

The strikes highlight data centers as strategic "soft targets" with distinct features including air conditioning units and diesel generators. Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and UAE have committed to financing vast data-center clusters, with the UAE building one of OpenAI's huge "Stargate" clusters in Abu Dhabi. The ease of Iran's attack raises fundamental questions about protecting AI infrastructure worldwide.