Iran’s IRGC Threatens US and Israeli Economic Targets as Regional War Expands
TEHRAN, Iran – The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to attack American and Israeli economic interests across the region, dramatically expanding the potential theater of conflict on the 12th day of the ongoing war with US-led forces.
A spokesperson for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters warned on Wednesday that “economic centres and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region” are now legitimate targets. The warning was framed as a direct response to an overnight Israeli strike on a bank branch in Tehran, which Iranian state media described as an “illegitimate and unusual act in war.”
“People of the region should not be within a one-kilometre radius of banks,” the spokesperson cautioned, adding, “The Americans should await our countermeasure and our painful response.”
The escalation marks a shift toward targeting financial and civilian infrastructure. It follows an Israeli bombardment on Monday of a branch of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a group affiliated with Hezbollah.
In a move that significantly broadens the scope of potential retaliation, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency published a list of specific US companies whose regional infrastructure, particularly in Israel and some Gulf countries, it now considers targets. The agency described the offices and cloud-based service facilities as “Iran’s new targets,” justifying the move by stating that the technology of these firms has been used for military applications against Iran.
The companies listed by Tasnim as having Israeli links include:
· Google
· Microsoft
· Palantir
· IBM
· Nvidia
· Oracle
Al Jazeera’s Maziar Motamedi, reporting from Tehran, noted that the state-affiliated agency characterized the move as a natural progression of the conflict. “As the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” the agency stated.
The threats come amid relentless military exchanges. According to Iranian officials, US and Israeli forces have bombed nearly 10,000 civilian sites across the country since the war began on February 28, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,300 civilians. Meanwhile, the conflict continues to ripple across the region. In Lebanon, where Israel claims it is targeting Hezbollah’s capacity to operate, at least 570 people have been killed and 780,000 displaced since the recent escalation began.
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