Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has publicly identified Abu Dhabi’s “Stargate” AI data center as a retaliatory target and released a satellite-style targeting video. The issue is straightforward: the facility, valued at $30 billion, has not begun construction and is only expected to break ground in the second half of 2026.
According to the source material, IRGC Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari released the video on April 3 and said Iran would respond with “complete and utter annihilation” if the United States moved against Iranian power infrastructure. The video opens with a space view of Earth, then zooms into a desert area near Abu Dhabi using satellite imagery. It also displays the line, “Although hidden by Google, nothing can escape our eyes,” before ending with a night-vision view of the supposed target. Images of Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, and Satya Nadella are shown as well.
Earlier attacks on regional data facilities add weight to the threat
The warning drew attention partly because the source points to an earlier real-world disruption. On March 1, 2026, Iranian Shahed drones reportedly struck Amazon AWS facilities in the UAE and Bahrain, causing two availability zones in the AWS ME-CENTRAL-1 region to go offline for more than 24 hours. That incident gives this latest message a more serious context, even if the current target itself is not yet operational.
The report also says the IRGC has issued similar warnings to 14 major US technology companies in recent weeks, including Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and Google. The list suggests that advanced computing infrastructure is being treated as a strategic target set, not just a commercial asset.
The Abu Dhabi site remains undeveloped
There is, however, a clear gap between the threat and the physical reality on the ground. The Abu Dhabi Stargate AI data center is backed by OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, SoftBank, and UAE-based AI firm G42. The plan calls for a total investment of $30 billion, a long-term capacity target of 1GW, and an initial deployment of 200MW. Yet the source says the location is still desert. At this stage, any strike would hit construction gear at most, not a functioning hyperscale AI facility.
That mismatch has fueled questions about the video itself, especially the night-vision segment. The source argues that the footage may be digitally generated and that the release looks more like a psychological operation than a near-term military plan. Even so, the episode shows how AI data centers, cloud infrastructure, and large-scale compute projects are being pulled into rising geopolitical risk in the Middle East.