Satellite images confirm Iran struck Amazon data centers in Bahrain

Satellite imagery has confirmed damage to two Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 0.06% data centers in Bahrain, corroborating claims by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it struck the facilities with cruise missiles last week, Bloomberg reported on Monday.finance.yahoo+1

Independent, lower-resolution images from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellite constellation reviewed by Bloomberg News show damage at facilities in the towns of Zallaq and Askar. The IRGC had released its own high-resolution satellite images through the state-backed Tasnim news agency, alleging the sites were targeted because of Amazon's support for U.S. military operations.finance.yahoo

A Pattern of Escalating Strikes

The confirmed damage marks the latest in a series of Iranian attacks on Amazon Web Services infrastructure in the Gulf region dating back to March, when Iranian Shahed drones struck AWS data centers in the United Arab Emirates and damaged a facility near Bahrain. Those initial strikes, which Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↗ 6.75% reported caused power and connectivity outages, forced Amazon to migrate customers to unaffected regions.tomshardware+2

According to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project cited by Bloomberg, Iranian forces struck the Bahrain Telecommunications Co. RJR Data Center in Askar, which hosts AWS cloud infrastructure, on July 18 and 21, followed by a hit on Amazon's Zallaq data center on July 24. As of July 22, neither Amazon nor Bahraini authorities had confirmed damage, with Bahrain stating its air defenses had intercepted Iranian missiles.sofx+1

Broader Conflict and Oil Markets

The strikes came after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire with Iran "over" earlier in July, with U.S. Central Command launching 10 consecutive nights of strikes aimed at degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to CNBC Comcast Corporation ↗ 6.23%. The IRGC described the Bahrain attacks as retaliation for U.S. bombing of a nuclear facility under construction in Darkhovin, Iran.aa+2

Oil markets have whipsawed amid the hostilities. Brent crude surged after the ceasefire collapsed in early July, though earlier rounds of U.S.-Iran peace talks had sent prices lower when they showed signs of progress. Regional mediators including Qatar and Pakistan have proposed a 10-day ceasefire, though Washington is reportedly preparing for the possibility that talks could fail.cnbc+2

The targeting of civilian technology infrastructure has drawn attention to the vulnerability of cloud computing in conflict zones. Tom's Hardware reported that Amazon had placed its Middle East (Bahrain) Region in "hard down" status between late March and early April, though the company said it had ensured service continuity by migrating customers to other regions.tomshardware