Iran Threatens to Destroy Stargate AI Center in Abu Dhabi

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened the complete and utter annihilation of the Stargate AI data center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In a video address released in early April 2026, IRGC spokesperson Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari stated the $30 billion facility is a target for retaliation should the United States follow through on President Donald Trump's threats to bomb Iranian power plants and desalination facilities.

The Stargate campus is a joint venture involving OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and the UAE investment vehicle MGX, with construction managed by G42. The project aims for frontier-scale compute capacity with a planned 1GW of power. To demonstrate the site's vulnerability, Zolfaghari used satellite imagery and night vision views to show that the facility is visible despite being hidden on standard Google Maps.

This threat follows a pattern of kinetic escalation against commercial technology infrastructure in the region. On March 1, 2026, Iranian drones struck Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE and Bahrain. On April 2, 2026, Iran claimed to have targeted an Oracle facility in Dubai. Zolfaghari warned that all regional information and communications technology companies with American shareholders are now considered legitimate targets. As of April 7, 2026, the Stargate campus remains under development and has not been attacked.