Suddenly! The U.S. proposes a 48-hour ceasefire? Iran launches a fierce attack!

Weekend, the latest updates on the Iranian situation are coming in!

On April 3 local time, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported, citing an insider, that on April 2 the United States proposed a 48-hour ceasefire to Iran through a friendly country, and Iran responded with a fierce attack.

On April 3, Iran announced one after another that it shot down a U.S. Air Force fighter jet and an attack aircraft. The United States confirmed that a U.S. Air Force fighter jet pilot was rescued and that it is searching for another pilot.

Also that day, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Department of Defense, a total of 365 U.S. military personnel were injured in military actions against Iran. According to U.S. military figures, the number of deaths is still 13.

It is worth noting that after the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran conflict, U.S. technology companies face new risks to infrastructure in the Middle East. If the conflict continues for a long time or threats cannot be eliminated, it may force all parties to re-evaluate their plans to deploy data centers across Gulf countries.

Iran responds to the U.S. ceasefire proposal with a fierce offensive

According to Xinhua News Agency, on April 3, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported, citing an insider, that on April 2 the United States proposed a 48-hour ceasefire to Iran through a friendly country, and Iran responded with a fierce attack.

The insider said that against the backdrop of intensifying tensions and the U.S. facing serious difficulties due to an incorrect assessment of Iran’s military capabilities, the U.S. made this proposal. After the Iranian attack on a U.S. military warehouse in Bubinyan Island in northern Kuwait, the U.S. diplomatic efforts to seek a ceasefire became even more urgent. The insider said that Iran responded to the U.S. proposal by continuing to launch fierce attacks.

According to the latest data released by the U.S. Department of Defense on April 3, a total of 365 U.S. military personnel were injured in military actions against Iran. The data show that among those injured, 247 were from the Army, 63 were from the Navy, 19 were from the Marine Corps, and 36 were from the Air Force.

According to U.S. military figures, the number of deaths is still 13, including 6 service members killed in an Iranian attack in Kuwait, 1 service member who died after being wounded in Saudi Arabia, and 6 people who died in an incident involving the crash of a U.S. military tanker aircraft.

In addition, according to CCTV News, in the early hours of April 4 local time, information from Israel said that in the Negev region in southern Israel, an industrial park “caught fire due to explosives falling.”

In addition, there have also been reports of explosives falling in places such as Petah Tikva, Giv’atayim, and Rosh Ha’ayin in central Israel. Fire and emergency rescue departments are handling the situation on site.

Earlier, Israel’s military had detected missile launches from Iran toward Israel twice, and air-raid alerts sounded in multiple places in the southern and central areas.

Later that day, Israel’s National Infrastructure Defense Command notified people in the southern and central areas that they could leave protected areas.

On the night of April 3 local time, the Media Office of the UAE’s Abu Dhabi confirmed that, due to falling debris from intercepted incoming missiles, a fire broke out at the Habshan natural gas facilities. The fire has already caused 1 death and 4 injuries. It is understood that the facility has been temporarily shut down.

According to information from Israel early on April 4 local time, on that day the Israeli military carried out an attack on Hezbollah infrastructure located in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

New risks for U.S. tech companies in the Middle East

According to CCTV News, in recent years, the Middle East has attracted U.S. technology companies thanks to strong funding, low-cost energy, flexible regulation, and geographic advantages close to African and European markets. Companies such as Oracle, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others have flocked in, driving a construction boom of infrastructure such as artificial intelligence software development and data centers. However, some analysis has pointed out that after the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, the situation changed.

Kate Rooney, a reporter for CNBC, said that on March 1, Iran launched a counterattack and attacked three data centers of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Two are located in the United Arab Emirates, and one is located in Bahrain. This marked the first time the infrastructure of a large cloud service provider was hit by military action.

Bahrain said that Amazon’s data center in Bahrain was attacked again and caught fire. Since the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, this data center has been attacked again. However, the report did not specify the extent of the damage.

Most major technology companies cooperate closely with the U.S. military and also have commercial ties with Israel, so these companies are likely to become targets for Iran’s attacks.

Muna Yakobian, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that as artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into business and military fields, the boundaries between these areas are becoming blurred. As a result, components of artificial intelligence infrastructure—especially data centers—will very likely become targets of attacks.

James Henderson, CEO of Hilex, a technology risk management organization, believes that this kind of threat targeting technology companies is forming into a sustained trend. “In the future, crises are very likely to directly target data centers and cloud platforms, just like attacks on traditional strategic targets.”

What affects future data center construction in the Gulf is not only the physical damage caused by the conflict. The Luxembourg market intelligence platform “IndexBox” believes that if the conflict continues for a long time or threats cannot be eliminated, it may force all parties to re-evaluate their data center deployment plans in Gulf countries.

Gene Munster, Managing Partner at U.S. Deepwater Asset Management, said the conflict is not beneficial for investors. If the conflict’s duration is extended and energy costs rise, it would increase the costs of investing in data centers and may slow their construction progress. In any case, the outcome is negative.

Patrick Murphy, Executive Director at U.S. Shirko Global Asset Management, said this also makes large technology companies begin to hesitate: if the situation could change in an instant, can they still make these long-term investments?

Layout: Liu Junyu

Proofreading: Yang Lilin