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Iran's Rezaei names UAE tech as targets

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Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander, said US-linked technology assets in the UAE could become targets if war resumes; an IRGC spokesman pointed to the cables under Hormuz.

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Key takeaway

Iranian officials now name subsea cables under Hormuz alongside Gulf data-centre campuses as possible targets.

Mohsen Rezaei, a senior Iranian security official and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told Press TV on 19 October that US-linked technology infrastructure in the region could become a target if war resumes, Arab Times reported⁠¹. He named the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and assets "around the strait of Hormuz", and valued them at more than US$2 trillion without giving a breakdown.

In remarks carried on 20 October, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said seven major data cables run beneath the Strait of Hormuz and warned that new targets would be unveiled⁠².

The IRGC had already named Stargate UAE, the OpenAI-backed AI campus in Abu Dhabi, in a targeting video in April. Rezaei's list goes wider than that single campus, and Mohebbi's remarks add the seabed links that carry Gulf data traffic. For Gulf operators, Iranian officials now name subsea cables as well as data-centre campuses.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

the strait of Hormuz is a narrow stretch of sea between Iran and the Gulf states. Oil tankers pass through it, and so do undersea cables that carry internet traffic. Mohsen Rezaei is a senior Iranian security official and a former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, its elite military force. He said that if war with the United States starts again, American-linked technology in the region, especially in the United Arab Emirates, could be attacked. A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards added that seven major data cables run under the strait. Data centres are buildings full of computers that need those cables to reach the outside world.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

US AI investment in the Gulf, of which Stargate UAE is the largest named example, places US-linked computing on territory within Iran's reach. That makes Gulf data centres a way to threaten US interests without striking US soil.

Geography concentrates the risk. the strait of Hormuz is narrow and borders Iran, and the IRGC spokesman counts seven major data cables beneath it, so a few routes carry much of the traffic between the Gulf states and the wider internet.

Escalation

Rhetorical scope widened between April and October: from one named campus to a named country, a dollar value and a cable count. Every statement is conditioned on war resuming, and none names a specific data centre.

What could happen next?

Risk
Operators may weigh war risk more heavily when siting capacity in the UAE or on Hormuz cable routes.
Meaning
Iranian officials now name data centres and subsea cables together when describing possible targets.

Source Landscape

This story draws on mixed-leaning sources from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

Kuwait

Saudi Arabia

LeftRight

Primary parallel: In April the IRGC named Stargate UAE, the OpenAI-backed AI campus in Abu Dhabi, in a targeting video. This month's statements widen that from one named campus to a country, a value and a count of subsea cables.

Counter-parallel: None of the reports cited here records a state cutting the Hormuz cables in wartime. There is no positive precedent for the cable threat being carried out, which is why its weight rests on the speakers' intent.

Rezaei's US$2 trillion has no breakdown, so it cannot be tested against any list of assets. The figure matters as a statement of scale, not as a measure.

For operators, the statements bear on siting. A campus on the Red Sea coast, such as NEOM's Oxagon, sits outside the Hormuz cable route, while UAE sites depend on links Iranian officials have now counted.

Consensus view: Iranian state-aligned media are presenting AI infrastructure as a legitimate target. Tasnim, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, ran a piece asking why artificial intelligence is on the target list, and Arab Times relayed Rezaei's Press TV remarks as a threat to Gulf data centres and AI sites.

Counter-view: Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari framed the Gulf and Hormuz fibre-optic cables as leverage, a bargaining asset rather than a strike plan. Rezaei also tied any action to a resumption of war, and gave no breakdown of his US$2 trillion figure.

Key tension: Whether naming countries, values and cable counts is coercive signalling aimed at talks or a step towards selecting targets.

Sources:Arab Times·Saudi Gazette

Mentions:Mohsen Rezaei →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →United Arab Emirates (UAE) →Strait of Hormuz →Hossein Mohebbi →Iran →Stargate →OpenAI →Abu Dhabi →Tasnim →Emirates →United States →Kayhan →Press TV →Red Sea →

First Reported In

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Arab Times· 22 Oct 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Iran names Stargate AI centres as targets

After the IRGC named Stargate UAE in April, Iranian officials named US-linked UAE technology assets and seven Hormuz data cables as possible targets.

Occurred 1 Apr 2026

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This Event

Iran's Rezaei names UAE tech as targets

Iranian officials have widened their stated threat from named AI campuses to the region's wider technology infrastructure and the subsea cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz.

Different Perspectives

Wang Yi

China's foreign minister and Djibouti's issued a joint communique on 21 October saying the war should not reach the Horn of Africa and stressing free navigation through Bab al-Mandeb. The text names neither Iran nor the Houthis, and Djibouti hosts China's only overseas military base, opposite the Yemeni coast.

Ministry of External Affairs

India's foreign ministry called the attacks on Saudi civilian and energy sites "unacceptable" on 22 October and said they must stop at once. An Indian died at Dammam, Indians were injured there and at Shaybah, and about 4,000 Umrah pilgrims remain stranded by one MP's count.

Iraq

Iraq closed the al-Sheeb crossing with Iran to travellers and trucks from 21 October and said other crossings would close gradually. Unlike September's closure, which ended on a staged timetable, this one has none, and Iran's interior ministry said it received no notice.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Egypt's president said on 21 October that Cairo's support would "defend Saudi territory, and does not include an attack on Yemen". Araghchi warned that Egyptian involvement would further complicate the situation, and Cairo's limit matches the one Ankara set on 8 October against attacking another state's soil.

UK Ministry of Defence

The MoD said on 20 October that RAF Typhoons over Saudi Arabia will not strike the Houthis, but extended tanker support to Saudi operations including against Houthi targets in Yemen. The tanker line sets no limit on strikes, so British aircraft may now refuel Saudi jets on bombing runs.

Turkey

Ankara sent the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament around 20 October, and its published text treats an attack on one party as an attack on all. Article 16 brings it into force only on the last ratification, so the 5 October invocation in Riyadh could not yet bind Turkey.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.