Amazon Says Some Data From Iran-Damaged AWS Facilities In Bahrain & UAE Is Gone For Good

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has informed customers that specific data stored in its Middle East facilities, struck by Iranian attacks earlier this year, cannot be recovered, signaling the company's most explicit admission yet that some losses from the assaults are permanent. According to a Wall Street Journal report, AWS has confirmed it cannot restore access to certain customer data exclusively housed in its Bahrain and UAE data centers.

This revelation is the first indication that data stored solely in those two locations might be irrevocably lost. AWS facilities were largely out of commission in the impacted areas following Iran's launch of drone attacks against them in early March, coinciding with the onset of the broader US-Israeli military conflict with Tehran.

In Bahrain, the damage extended across multiple AWS facilities, while Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the strikes at the Bahrain site, citing Amazon's association with US military operations. The UAE region suffered the loss of two of its three availability zones, while the Bahrain region endured the loss of one, a particularly severe blow considering AWS's infrastructure is typically designed to endure the failure of a single zone rather than coordinated strikes across several sites.

In response, customers redirected their workloads to alternative AWS regions, and AWS had previously cautioned that operations in the Middle East were likely to remain unpredictable. AWS's latest update, issued on Tuesday, marks its first public disclosure on the incident since April, more than six months after the original strikes.

This revelation highlights the extent of the physical damage to the sites and underscores the vulnerability of cloud infrastructure in conflict zones, prompting broader discussions about the resilience of data-center buildouts in the Gulf region, which has been actively courting global cloud and AI infrastructure investments.