In a recent video address, Iran has officially declared that if the United States were to attack Iran’s power plants, Iran will retaliate by targeting the upcoming Stargate UAE campus in Abu Dhabi. This threat comes close at the heels of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) releasing a statement naming 18 tech companies as “legitimate targets”. That list included Cisco, Oracle, NVIDIA, and G42.
Readers would recall that Stargate UAE, a 1GW compute cluster, was launched in May 2025, bringing together G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank Group and Cisco as partners in the AI data center campus project. The first 200MW AI cluster was originally expected to go live this year.
In the video, shared widely on various social media platforms, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, says, “Should the US proceed with its threats concerning Iran’s power plant facilities, the following retaliatory measures shall be promptly enacted. All power plants, energy infrastructure, and information and communication technology of the Zionist regime, and all similar companies in the region that have American shareholders, shall face complete and utter annihilation.”
The video then cuts to a satellite image of the site where the Stargate UAE campus is under construction. The text on the screen reads, “Nothing stays hidden from our sight, though hidden by Google,” before it shows more images of the under-construction facility. The video ends with these words on the screen: “We will do whatever it takes to defend our country and the interests of our nation.”
Meanwhile, the Dubai Media Office initially shot down claims made by Iran on Thursday of an attack on an Oracle data center in Dubai, calling it “fake news”. However, a day later, it posted on X, “Authorities confirm that they responded to a minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade of the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City. No injuries were reported.”
There were also reports of an attack on another data center, this time in Bahrain. But the country’s Ministry of Interior did not name the company or give any details of what type of facility was targeted. In a post on X on April 1, it simply stated, “Civil Defence is extinguishing a fire in a facility of a company as a result of the Iranian aggression. Relevant authorities are taking their measures at the site.” In a similar post on X on April 5, it once again stated, “MOI: Civil Defence is taking measures to control a fire in a facility as a result of the Iranian aggression.” It is unclear if the posts refer to two separate attacks, and if the targets were also two separate facilities. It has also not been disclosed if the facilities belonged to any technology company.