Iran threatens ‘complete and utter annihilation’ of OpenAI's $30B Stargate AI data center in Abu Dhabi — regime posts video with satellite imagery of ChatGPT-maker's premier 1GW data center

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued a clear public warning to the U.S. that any damage inflicted on Iran’s power infrastructure will be met with decisive retaliation. Specifically, IRGC spokesperson Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari threatened the “complete and utter annihilation” of U.S. and Israeli facilities. The ‘hidden’ $30 billion Stargate AI datacenter in Abu Dhabi was singled out as a juicy target for Iranian destruction later in the video. The threats come on the heels of the country reportedly delivering enough damage to some Amazon AWS data centers that they have shut down.

Above, you can see and hear Zolfaghari make the headlining threats against U.S. action in Iran. “Should the USA proceed with its threats concerning Iran’s power plant facilities the following retaliatory measures shall be promptly enacted,” declares the military spokesperson. “All power plants, energy infrastructure, and information and communications technology of the Zionist regime, and all similar companies within the region that have American shareholders shall face complete and utter annihilation.”

After the remarks from Zolfaghari, the video switches to a shot of the Earth from space, which zooms into Abu Dhabi on Google Maps. A zone not far from the coast is then centered on, showing an apparently ‘empty’ area of desert. However, a message is overlaid on this bleak view, stating “Nothing stays hidden to our sight, though hidden by Google.” The video then switches to a ‘night vision’ view of the same area of the map with the full extent of the Stargate AI datacenter in Abu Dhabi clear to see.

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(Image credit: IRGC video)

(Image credit: IRGC video)

(Image credit: IRGC video)

(Image credit: IRGC video)

Escalation potential or a bluff?

One might query why Iran hasn’t already struck targets like the Stargate AI data center during the last month of hostilities if it were at all possible. It has already inflicted enough damage to disrupt operations at some Amazon AWS data centers. Perhaps these were just ‘lucky’ shots that managed to get through defenses deployed in the Gulf States. Moreover, Iran has made similar threats against Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and 14 other U.S. tech companies over recent weeks.

With neither side looking like it will cool down the rhetoric and throttle back on the use of force right now, we might actually find out whether Iran can mount a devastating attack on U.S. business-related data centers or not. There will be lives at stake, of course, people are working at these facilities, so it isn’t all about the $30 billion that has been sunk into these huge projects in the Middle East.

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