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    AWS data centers in the Middle East have been impacted by drone strikes related to the Iran war, according to CEO Matt Garman’s statement to CNBC

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    Teams are working around the clock to maintain service availability as military threats escalate in the region

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    This marks the first public acknowledgment by a major cloud provider of direct military impact on physical infrastructure

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    The incident exposes enterprise customers to new geopolitical risks as cloud infrastructure becomes collateral in regional conflicts

Amazon Web Services is battling to keep its Middle East cloud infrastructure online after drone strikes linked to the Iran war hit data centers in the region. AWS CEO Matt Garman revealed teams are working around the clock to maintain service availability as the conflict escalates, marking the first time a major U.S. cloud provider has publicly acknowledged direct military threats to its physical infrastructure. The development raises urgent questions about enterprise cloud resilience in geopolitically volatile regions.

Amazon Web Services just crossed a threshold no cloud provider wanted to reach – its data centers are now in a war zone. AWS CEO Matt Garman confirmed to CNBC that drone strikes connected to the escalating Iran conflict have hit the company’s Middle East facilities, forcing engineering teams into crisis mode to keep services running.

The admission marks a watershed moment for the cloud industry. While providers have long planned for natural disasters, power outages, and even terrorism, this is the first time a major U.S. cloud giant has publicly acknowledged its infrastructure is under active military threat. For the thousands of enterprise customers relying on AWS’s Middle East regions – from financial institutions to government agencies – the news transforms abstract geopolitical risk into immediate operational reality.

“Teams are working around the clock on availability,” Garman told reporters, though he declined to specify which facilities were affected or the extent of the damage. The carefully worded statement suggests Amazon is balancing transparency with security concerns, likely coordinating its public messaging with U.S. and regional authorities. AWS operates data centers across the Middle East, including its Bahrain region launched in 2019 and the UAE region that came online in 2022.

The timing couldn’t be worse for AWS’s enterprise ambitions. The company has been aggressively courting Middle Eastern governments and corporations, positioning its regional infrastructure as a sovereign cloud solution that keeps data local while delivering global-scale computing power. Just last quarter, AWS announced major contracts with Saudi Arabia’s NEOM smart city project and expanded partnerships with UAE-based telecom providers. Those deals now face uncomfortable questions about business continuity.