Iran has expanded its retaliation campaign in West Asia by targeting commercial data centres, marking a significant shift in modern conflict strategy. Three Amazon data facilities, two in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, were struck by drones, causing major disruptions to cloud computing services that support banking, aviation and other critical sectors.

Amazon said two facilities in the United Arab Emirates were directly hit, while a nearby strike in Bahrain caused physical damage to infrastructure. The company warned that service disruptions could be prolonged due to the scale of destruction, with repair efforts currently under way.

The attacks follow a wider barrage of drones and missiles launched by Iran against Gulf nations after United States and Israeli strikes reportedly killed Iran's Supreme Leader. Energy installations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia were also targeted.

The damage highlighted the growing strategic importance of data centres, often described as the backbone of the digital economy. Stock market operations in the United Arab Emirates were halted for two days due to technology outages, and thousands of airline passengers in cities such as Dubai and Kuwait faced delays as flight and airport systems were affected.