IRGC Says Cruise Missiles Damaged Amazon Data Centers in Bahrain; Satellite Images Show Evidence of Strike

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed it struck and damaged two Amazon data centers in Bahrain with a salvo of cruise missiles, a move that—if confirmed—would represent a direct attack on U.S.-linked corporate infrastructure overseas.

State news outlet Tasnim published a partial statement attributed to the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, which said the operation was carried out "in response to the aggression and assault… by the child-killing American army" and that the unit had "attacked and destroyed the central data infrastructure of the American company Amazon in Bahrain with several cruise missiles." This phrasing reflects the IRGC’s rhetoric and has been reported as their official claim.

"Analysis of Sentinel-2 images shows evidence of damage to both facilities, but does not provide insight into the extent of the damage," said Adam Farrar, Bloomberg's senior geoeconomics analyst.

Independent satellite analysis: Bloomberg reviewed European Space Agency Sentinel-2 imagery and reported signs consistent with an attack on the Bahrain data center campus, while noting the images cannot determine the full extent of the damage. Amazon declined to comment on Bloomberg’s reporting.

Context And Implications

Open reporting indicates this would be the fourth reported strike on data centers since the U.S. began military operations in February. In March, the IRGC publicly named a list of U.S. technology companies—including Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle—as "new targets."

Analysts say there is a strategic logic to these strikes: major cloud providers and technology firms supply data processing, hosting and AI tools that can be used by military and intelligence agencies. Some observers and reports have argued that commercial cloud and AI tools can play a role in military targeting workflows; the article referenced reporting that linked a deadly strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school to targeting decisions informed in part by automated systems, a claim that remains subject to investigation and debate.

Political message: Tehran framed the operation as a warning to U.S. leadership, signalling that prolonged hostilities could provoke further economic and technological retaliation in the region. Independent verification of the full damage and any operational impact on Amazon’s services is limited at this stage.

What to watch next: independent imagery analysts, official statements from Amazon and Bahraini authorities, and follow-up reporting from international media will be important to confirm the scale and consequences of the reported strike.