Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
In brief
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has declared that 18 American IT companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google, will be targeted for destruction in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
- The Guard announced that attacks would commence on April 1, prompting company leaders to advise their employees to leave for safety, as tensions escalate following recent military actions in the region.
- The ongoing conflict has resulted in significant casualties, with over 3,400 Iranian deaths and 13 U.S. military fatalities reported, while President Trump indicated a potential withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iran in the coming weeks.
Detailed news
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has promised to destroy many American information technology companies that do business in the Middle East. Some of these firms are Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.
The Guard said on Tuesday that 18 digital businesses will be seen as “legitimate targets” in response to strikes on Iran by the US and Israel.
They went on to declare, “From now on, every bloodshed execution will lead to the destruction of an American company.” This was put up on a Telegram channel that was connected to the Guard.
The Guard said in a statement on Telegram that attacks on some establishments would start at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 1, Tehran time (12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The bosses of such companies told all of their staff to quit their employment right away to save their lives.
The list of companies also included Cisco, HP, Intel, Oracle, IBM, Dell, Palantir, JPMorgan, Tesla, General Electric, Spire Solutions, Boeing, and G42, an AI company from the UAE.
This comes after Iranian troops targeted Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the Middle East earlier this month. Because to this, several apps and digital services in the United Arab Emirates were no longer available.
American IT companies have been sending money and resources to the Middle East for the past few years, mostly to help build the infrastructure for artificial intelligence. The area has cheap energy and land that is easy to get to.
A spokesperson for Intel told CNBC, “The security and welfare of our team is our top priority.” “We are doing everything we can to keep our workers and facilities in the Middle East safe and help them, and we are keeping a close eye on the situation.”
We have gotten in touch with all of the businesses that were mentioned in the Telegram post to ask them what they think. Microsoft, Google, and JPMorgan have all said they won’t talk about the issue.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Iran struck back all around the area.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies says that since the start of the crisis, more than 3,000 missiles and drones have been fired at the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he thinks the US military would pull its troops out of Iran in “two or three weeks.” The White House has said that President Trump will talk to the country about the fight with Iran on Wednesday night.
The Human Rights Activist News Agency said that since the crisis started, more than 3,400 Iranian citizens and soldiers have died. According to U.S. Central Command, thirteen members of the U.S. military have died.
Source: CNBC news
