Amazon Data Centers in Bahrain, UAE Crippled by Iranian Attacks; Repairs Expected to Take Months
Amazon has confirmed that data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates sustained severe damage from Iranian drone and missile strikes, and will remain offline for several months. The company is suspending billing for affected customers and urging them to migrate workloads to other regions.
“This is an unprecedented disruption for cloud services in the region. The physical destruction is extensive, and we expect restoration to take months, not weeks,” said a senior Amazon Web Services executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Background
The attacks occurred amid an escalating shadow war between Iran and the United States. U.S. military facilities in the Gulf have been targeted before, but this is the first time commercial cloud infrastructure has been hit.
Iran has not officially claimed responsibility, but U.S. intelligence sources attribute the strikes to Iranian drones and missiles. The region is currently observing an uneasy truce, but analysts warn that renewed attacks are possible if nuclear talks collapse.
What This Means
For businesses relying on Amazon Web Services in the Middle East, the outage means potential data loss and extended downtime. Amazon recommends failing over to other AWS regions immediately. “Clients should initiate disaster recovery plans now—waiting could be catastrophic,” said cybersecurity expert Dr. Lina Hassan of Gulf Tech Institute.
Longer-term, the incident raises serious questions about the resilience of global cloud infrastructure in conflict zones. “We are seeing a new dimension of cyber-physical warfare where commercial assets become collateral damage,” added Dr. Hassan.
Amazon has not disclosed the exact number of affected customers, but analysts estimate it could impact hundreds of businesses across finance, oil, and e-commerce sectors. The company is working with local authorities to secure the sites and begin repairs.