Iran Threatens to target Google, Apple, other American Companies in Gulf
NEW DELHI, Mar 31: Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Tuesday that they would target American companies, and not just those working on military bases, in West Asia/Gulf region on Wednesday if more Iranian leaders were killed in “targeted assassinations.”
The 18 companies listed in the IRGC’s threat included Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing. “These companies should expect the destruction of their respective units in exchange for each terror act in Iran, starting from 8 pm Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1,” the IRGC statement said, as per state media. Tehran’s 8 pm means 4:30 pm in GMT/UTC, and 10:30 pm in India (IST).
“We advise the employees of these institutions to immediately leave their workplaces to preserve their lives,” it added. American companies on the IRGC hit list included Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard (HP), Cisco, Intel, Oracle, Apple, Meta Platforms (which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram), International Business Machines (IBM), JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, General Electric, and Boeing.
Microsoft and Apple, for instance, have corporate offices and significant retail presence in the United Arab Emirates, primarily centred in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In its statement, the IRGC reportedly stressed that information technology and artificial intelligence companies play a key role in planning and executing operations targeting Iran.
(Manas Dasgupta)
