Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard has issued a statement on the official Sepah channel, designating 19 technology companies associated with artificial intelligence as complicit in the attack by the United States and Israel and, therefore, «legitimate targets.» AI is officially a weapon of war, and all companies associated with it are military targets.
On the list there is 18 American AI companies, and one Arab. Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, Palantir, Nvidia, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Dell, HP, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, General Electric, Boeing, Spire Solutions y G42.
The statement states that these companies are “the key element in designing and tracking targets,” and that “for every murder and terrorist act committed in Iran, a facility or unit belonging to these companies will be destroyed.”
AI companies, war target
The note also asks employees of these companies to evacuate the buildings where they work, in the Middle East, “at least one kilometer away.”
Beyond evaluating this threat, there are two things that are a reality. The war in Iran was the first in which AI was used as a military instrument to guide drones and missiles, to make strategic decisions, and to choose targets.
At the same time, The presence of these technology companies in the Middle East is enormousand the danger is real.
The rich countries of the Middle East, flooded with petrodollars, have built numerous data centers for North American AI, because they were (until now) stable countries, with high investment capacity, and low energy prices.
According to the media TBWMicrosoft has allocated $15 billion to its activities in the United Arab Emirates. Amazon finances an AI center in Riyadh with $5 billion. Oracle, Cisco and Nvidia have announced a partnership with OpenAI to build an AI campus in the United Arab Emirates. Google and Amazon Web Services are building data centers for their clouds. Oracle alone has committed 156 billion to AI centers.
According to analyst firm TD Cowen, Total US investment in the Middle East exceeds $600 billion in 2026, and 75% is related to AI. All this investment could be blown up (real and figuratively) because of the US attack on Iran.
A muddy war that puts AI in suspense
If you wonder Why the war has been stuck for weeks and Donald Trump makes threats that he does not carry out, the answer is here. An all-out war with Iran or an invasion could destroy these companies’ AI infrastructure, causing AI disconnections and crashes, not to mention the loss of these million-dollar investments. The same applies to oil.
You can evacuate buildings, but you can’t take data centers, which are easy targets. And the threat from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not just military. It has highly capable hackers that could render these infrastructures useless.and cause the same damage as a bomb.
It is difficult to know what will happen, because Donald Trump is unpredictable, and Iran acts with religious fanaticism. AI companies are crossing their fingers, knowing that none of the leaders involved on either side are trustworthy.
What is clear is that AI data centers are going to change forever. Converted into military objectives, they will cease to be civilian buildings and will be taken over by armies, with the aim of guaranteeing their security.