Iran Issues Warning to Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Other US Firms in the Middle East
The military command urged people to stay away from banks in the region.
This article was originally published on Inc.com.
The Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned it could attack “economic centers and banks” in the Middle East that have links to the US and Israel after a building affiliated with Iran's Bank Sepah was hit overnight in Tehran, according to Reuters.
With the conflict in its 12th day, Iran has said that the US and Israel have bombed almost 10,000 civilian sites and killed over 1,300 civilians, according to Al Jazeera.
The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, which is IRGC-owned according to the United Nations, said, “The enemy left our hands open to targeting economic centers and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region,” as reported by Al Jazeera.
Iran’s Warning
The Iranian military’s central operational command also issued a warning that “people of the region should not be within a one-kilometre radius of banks.”
Tasnim News Agency, which has ties to the IRGC, released a list of offices operated by major US companies that it said are “Iran’s new targets.” The companies are operated by the US with ties to Israel, and produce technology used by the military.
The companies reportedly included on the list—Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia, and Oracle—have offices in several Israeli cities and some Gulf countries, according to Al Jazeera.
The message added that “as the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” according to NDTV World.
Behind The Counterattack
The threat comes after Iran alleged that Israeli and US strikes hit a building overnight linked to Bank Sepah, one of Iran’s largest public banks. Israel also reportedly struck a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution in Beirut on March 9.
“With this illegitimate and uncommon action, the enemy is forcing our hand to target economic centers and banks linked to the US and Zionist regime in the region,” said the spokesperson for Iran’s military command, according to Reuters.
The outlet also reported that financial institutions Citigroup and Standard Chartered have started to evacuate employees from their Dubai offices. HSBC reportedly closed its branches in Qatar until further notice to ensure the safety of its employees and clients.
