Tehran announced this afternoon, through its Revolutionary Guard, that during this Wednesday, and in retaliation for the continuous US bombings and attacks in the region, that are found in the East.
This announcement represents a step further in the war, since so far, Iran has had ‘limited’ itself to bombing and attacking US bases in nearby countries (Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia…)or oil tankers or ships that did not have permission to cross the Strait of Hormuz. However, if what the Revolutionary Guard announced this Tuesday afternoon is not a bluff, on April 1 we could talk about a new escalation in the conflict.
As specified by the agency Reuters, In total there are 18 American companies in the region, among them true technological transatlantics – the largest in the world. such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, Tesla or IBM, among others.
The message issued by the Revolutionary Guard has been the following: “These companies must expect the destruction of their respective units in exchange for each terrorist act in Iran, starting at 8 p.m. Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1.”
On the other hand, the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran assured that it attacked strategic centers and key communication, telecommunications and industry of Siemens, Telecom and AT&T “of the child-killing regime” at the Israeli Ben Gurion airport and the city of Haifa, in northern Israel.
But to be more precise with the facilities and companies that Washington has in the Middle East, we have to look at what places and What kind of buildings do these companies have in the region?
Google facilities in the East
In the case of Google, The threat from Iran would mainly affect its offices and data centers in Qatar, Israel and the Arab Emirates (UAE). Furthermore, in Riyadh and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) it has its main hub (neural and control center) which, if attacked, would be a very difficult blow for the company in the area, and which has an investment of about 10 billion dollars.
Microsoft; Do not Israel
Another of the big ones is Microsoft, a company to which Iran could also deal a serious blow in the region. It also has offices and cloud services in the United Arab Emirates. On the other hand, in Israel, Microsoft also has R&D centers, linked projects to defense and advanced engineering data. In addition, it has a massive investment in AI ($15 billion in the region).
Amazon, one of the crown jewels in the East
Jeff Bezos’ company is also not immune to Iranian threats. According to the data handled about the company’s presence in the Middle East, Amazon would have with tremendously high investments in AI and cloud in Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, it has data center buildings in the Emirates, Bahrain, which was recently damaged and a megaproject in Saudi Arabia. It is one of the most critical assets in the area.
Meta, also with presence in Israel
Mark Zuckerberg’s company also faces the “destruction” of its facilities. Firstly in Israel, where it has numerous advanced engineering teams, as well as development centers that could be attacked by Iran. On the other hand, It also has commercial and operations offices (UAE, Israel).
Apple
As with Meta, the apple company also has a large part of its Middle East logistics center in Israel, which is why it can be assured that an attack on Israel could be devastating for many American giants. In Tel Aviv, Apple has development centers, as well as an interconnected commercial and logistics network throughout the region.
Other companies with an important but not decisive presence
Finally, there are as many American companies – up to 18 – that have facilities, centers or factories in the East, but to a lesser extent or not in especially critical points. For example is IBMwhich has a research laboratory in Haifa, as well as some offices in several countries.
Tesla, for its part, is not as exposed in the region like many of the others. It does not have any factories, although it does have shops and service centers, something very inferior and that you would hardly notice in the event of an attack.
Likewise, there are others like Intel, Cisco o HP, whose main work in the region is to obtain and develop hardware, chips and networks. Oracle, which focuses primarily on information and security services, cloud, and then there would be Nvidiawhich stands out in the region for benefiting from chips and AI. Lastly they would be Palantirwhich focuses its activity on data analysis; and Boeing, whose main attraction in the East is defense.
