What just happened? Iran has issued a new threat against a US interest: the $30 billion Stargate AI data center in Abu Dhabi. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard said it would hit the facility should the US carry out its promise to target the country's power infrastructure.
The IRGC released a video vowing retaliatory measures should the US attack its power facilities. Spokesperson Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari said the actions would entail "complete and utter annihilation" of power plants, energy infrastructure, and IT and communications facilities belonging to Israel and to companies with American shareholders.
The video shows a dramatic space shot that zooms in on Abu Dhabi on Google Maps. In a seemingly empty spot near the coast, a message states, "Nothing stays hidden to our sight, though hidden by Google." It then shows a night vision view revealing the Stargate AI data center.
We also see a photo of several CEOs whose companies are partners in the project, including Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, and Satya Nadella.
– Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 3, 2026
Announced in May 2025 as the first international deployment of OpenAI's Stargate platform, Abu Dhabi's Stargate UAE project brings together OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, UAE's G42, and SoftBank for a 1GW AI cluster, with the first 200MW expected to come online in 2026.
That initial buildout sits inside a much larger UAE-US AI campus planned to span 10 square miles and eventually reach 5GW, which would make it one of the biggest AI data center developments anywhere. Nvidia's Grace Blackwell GB300 systems are slated for the first phase, and Reuters reported that 200MW of capacity could amount to roughly 100,000 Nvidia chips.
This isn't Iran's first threat against US interests in the Middle East. Last week, the IRGC warned it would target 18 US firms with facilities in the region for what it said was active participation in terrorist plots. The list included Nvidia, Intel, HP, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, Cisco, Oracle, IBM, Dell, Palantir, Tesla, and Boeing.
– RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) March 31, 2026
Since then, the only reported damage to US firms has been to some AWS data centers in Bahrain and Dubai, disrupting services in the area. It was also reported that the façade of a building used by Oracle in Dubai was slightly damaged by debris falling from an intercepted drone.