Iranian Attacks Cause Amazon Infrastructure’s Biggest-Ever Damage
Sajid Ali | September 16, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the global leader in cloud computing, has admitted it's unable to fully restore its data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates following severe infrastructure damage caused by drone and missile attacks during the Iran war.
According to a Reuters report, Amazon's latest update reveals key data zones in Bahrain and the UAE suffered irreversible damage, impacting cloud services within those regions. During the conflict, Amazon’s infrastructure in Bahrain sustained extensive damage across multiple Availability Zones—exceeding the designed resilience of regional and multi-zone services.
The company has ceased attempts to restore data centers in Bahrain and is assisting customers in migrating to alternative regions and data centers. While efforts continue to recover other zones in the UAE, one specific zone there remains completely inaccessible.
In March this year, following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran retaliated with drone and missile attacks targeting Gulf states and Israel, impacting Amazon facilities. Two data centers in the UAE were directly targeted, while a nearby drone explosion in Bahrain caused significant damage to equipment and affected the region's banking system.
Amazon has informed governments and authorities of the affected countries and announced it’s replacing damaged infrastructure in the UAE, with an update expected in the coming months. Its next briefing regarding operations in Bahrain is scheduled for early 2027.