Iran’s data centre attacks in the Gulf are strikes on confidence

For decades, geopolitical risk in the Gulf was largely synonymous with oil. Pipelines, export terminals and processing facilities were viewed as the obvious tender spots in times of regional escalation. In an oil-reliant economy, hydrocarbons were both the engine of growth and the primary vulnerability. Risk assessments, insurance premiums and sovereign spreads were managed accordingly.The episodic risks in the oil and gas industry led to a conventional playbook for navigating crises. Gulf producers maintain strategic reserves, redundant export routes and rapid repair capabilities. Strong sovereign balance sheets also provide additional shock absorbers. Over time, markets adapted and temporary disruption became part of the pricing model for an energy-dependent region.That playbook no longer holds. Recent Iranian attacks have broadened the definition of what constitutes strategic infrastructure in the Gulf. Oil and gas assets remain exposed, but so are the logistics corridors, data centres and business districts that anchor the region’s post-oil future.Drone attacks on March 1 struck three separate data centre facilities operated by Amazon Web Services in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, causing serious damage. The three incidents across two jurisdictions suggest more than collateral disruption and point to intentionality. Iranian attacks are not just targeting the Gulf’s traditional assets but instead seek to hinder its post-oil future.Even the renewed targeting of traditional oil and gas infrastructure no longer only risks depriving external markets of energy sources. Rather, it threatens the backbone that provides the Gulf’s artificial intelligence ambitions with a critical competitive advantage of cheap, abundant and reliable power.04:04How US-Israeli strikes on Iran are sending shock waves through global energy marketsHow US-Israeli strikes on Iran are sending shock waves through global energy marketsAbu Dhabi and Dubai have attracted hyperscale commitments in the past two years, from multi-hundred-megawatt expansions to headline-grabbing campus proposals. As part of a US$1.4 trillion economic partnership, AI investment schemes in the UAE involved state and sovereign investors along with large cloud providers who raced to lock in land, power and government workloads.