Amazon Web Services announced on September 15, 2026, that it is permanently unable to restore access to customer data hosted in Bahrain and parts of the United Arab Emirates. The data centers were severely damaged by Iranian drone strikes in March 2026 during the opening days of the U.S.-Iran war. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility, citing Amazon's support for the U.S. military. The incident has prompted the UAE to consider revising its massive Stargate AI campus to include underground facilities and missile interceptors.
Iranian drone strikes on AWS
- ▪Amazon stated in March 2026 that two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates were directly struck by drones, while a facility in Bahrain was damaged by a nearby strike
- ▪In March 2026, Iranian drone strikes targeted and damaged Amazon Web Services data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates during the opening days of the U.S.-Iran war
Permanent data loss in Bahrain
- ▪The drone strike damage in Bahrain was spread across multiple Amazon Web Services facilities, exceeding what the services were designed to withstand
- ▪On September 15, 2026, Amazon Web Services announced it is permanently unable to restore access to customer data and resources hosted exclusively in its Bahrain region
Permanent data loss in UAE
- ▪Amazon Web Services announced on September 15, 2026, that it is unable to recover resources and data stored in one of its availability zones in the United Arab Emirates
- ▪Amazon Web Services continues to work on restoring two other affected availability zones in the United Arab Emirates, with updates expected in the coming months
Gulf AI infrastructure security
- ▪The United Arab Emirates is considering revising the planned 5-gigawatt UAE Stargate campus to disperse facilities and implement enhanced security measures, including underground sites and missile interceptors
- ▪The drone strikes on Amazon Web Services facilities have raised security concerns for future data center developments in the Persian Gulf region amid an artificial intelligence infrastructure boom
AWS customer migration timeline
- ▪Amazon Web Services has not provided a completion date for repairs, but plans to share its next update for users in Bahrain in early 2027
- ▪Following the March 2026 drone strikes, Amazon Web Services instructed customers to migrate their workloads to other regions and warned that Middle East operations would remain unpredictable
IRGC targeting rationale
- ▪Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated it targeted the Bahrain Amazon Web Services facility because of Amazon's support for the United States military
- ▪Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the drone strikes on the Amazon Web Services facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates
Debatable claims
- ▪Amazon should end its military contracts to protect its global infrastructure
- ▪Tech companies should halt data center expansion in the Persian Gulf
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