Iran: Drone attacks on AWS in UAE and Bahrain were allegedly intentional

The Islamic Republic of Iran deliberately attacked the data centers of AWS in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with drones. At least, that is what the state-run Iranian news agency FARS claims in a post on Telegram. They were strategic targets that were attacked because enemy military and intelligence activities were supported through them, the news agency further claims. These statements cannot be verified; they could also be subsequent justifications for accidental hits. The cloud infrastructure remains disrupted, but the Amazon subsidiary has announced that it will no longer make all information about the recovery public. Affected parties will be informed directly.

Microsoft Allegedly Also Hit

The data centers were damaged over the weekend, initially AWS only stated that they were hit by “objects.” Only noticeably later did the cloud company confirm that the ongoing disruptions were due to drone strikes and thus directly related to the fighting in the region. In the United Arab Emirates, two facilities were directly hit, while in Bahrain a drone had crashed nearby. The hits resulted in “structural damage,” and the power supply was also impacted. AWS still cannot say when the facilities will be fully operational again. It advised switching to an AWS region.

Last Saturday, Israel and the USA began attacking the Islamic Republic, also directly killing the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tehran responded with air strikes on various states in the region. Since then, there have been numerous reports from the Gulf states about missile and drone strikes, and tens of thousands of people who were on vacation there or merely transiting are still stranded. FARS now speaks of “targeted attacks” on Amazon and Microsoft, which had dealt a “heavy blow” to the enemy. However, there are no reports of disruptions at Microsoft, and all Azure services are currently functioning in the Middle East. all Azure services are currently functioning. The situation is different at AWS.

(mho)