Iran threatens OpenAI’s Stargate data center in Abu Dhabi

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has published a video threatening OpenAI’s planned Abu Dhabi data center if the US follows through on threats to attack the country’s power plants, as reported earlier by Tom’s Hardware. The video, which was published to an Iranian state-backed news outlet’s X account on April 3rd, says the IRGC will carry out the “complete and utter annihilation” of US-linked energy and technology companies in the region, before showing an image of OpenAI’s $30 billion in-progress Stargate facility in the United Arab Emirates.

OpenAI’s overarching $500 billion Stargate project includes investments from Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, and SoftBank. It’s not clear how much of the Abu Dhabi data center is actually finished, as an October 2025 update showed the beginnings of the facilities that will contain 16 gigawatts of compute power. The update said construction was “well underway” and would meet its target of deploying 200 megawatts in 2026. OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Along with what appears to be satellite imagery of OpenAI’s UAE data center from Google Maps, the IRGC’s video also shows a photo of the executives backing the project, which misidentifies Cisco’s chief product officer, Jeetu Patel, as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Truth Social, saying Tuesday will be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day” if the country doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also told ABC News on Sunday that the US plans on “blowing up the entire country” if Iran doesn’t reach a deal with the US. Iran’s Foreign Ministry responded to Trump’s threats on Monday, saying it’s “determined to defend our national security and sovereignty with all might.”