CENTCOM accuses Iran of targeting civilians — disputes Iran's claim of military-only strikes
·Middle East (multi-country)
US Central Command published a fact-check directly contradicting Iran's ambassador to the UN, who told the Security Council that Iran's response had been directed "solely and exclusively" at US bases and assets. CENTCOM called this a "lie" and listed civilian targets struck by Iran: Dubai International Airport, Kuwait International Airport, UAE airports, Erbil International Airport, Port of Dubai, multiple hotels in Dubai and Bahrain, residential areas in Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh, Bahrain, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.
CENTCOM published a fact-check statement on X responding to Iran's UN ambassador, who had told the Security Council that Tehran's response was directed "solely and exclusively" at US bases and assets.
CENTCOM statement: "The Iranian Regime is actively targeting civilians and has attacked more than a dozen locations." CENTCOM called the ambassador's assertion a "lie."
Confirmed civilian targets struck by Iran (per CENTCOM):
Airports:
• Dubai International Airport — flights suspended "until further notice"
• Kuwait International Airport — struck
• UAE airports — multiple hit
• Erbil International Airport, Iraq — struck
Hotels and commercial:
• Fairmont The Palm, Dubai — struck, smoke and flames visible
• Burj Al Arab area, Dubai — struck
• Crowne Plaza Manama, Bahrain — struck
• Port of Dubai — struck
Infrastructure:
• Amazon Web Services data center, UAE — "impacted by objects that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire." Fire department shut off power. AWS said getting it back online could take "several hours."
Residential areas struck:
• Tel Aviv, Israel
• Beit Shemesh, Israel (synagogue destroyed, 9 killed)
• Residential areas in Bahrain and Qatar
• Abu Dhabi — Etihad Towers complex hit by drone debris; woman and child injured
• Doha, Qatar — smoke rising from industrial district
Emirates airline suspended all operations "until further notice." Qatar Airways suspended all flights pending reopening of Qatari airspace.
NBC News noted it "has not independently verified CENTCOM's full list of locations" but confirmed several sites via verified video and wire agency reporting.
Iran's response has been directed solely and exclusively at US bases and assets.
Sources
T1CENTCOM (X fact-check)99% reliability
T1NBC News95% reliability
T1Reuters99% reliability
T1BBC96% reliability
T1The Guardian95% reliability
Related signals (3)
US Central Command@@CENTCOMHIGH
FACT CHECK:
Iran's Ambassador to the UN told the Security Council that Iran's response has been directed "solely and exclusively" at U.S. bases and assets.
This is a LIE.
The Iranian Regime is actively targeting civilians and has attacked more than a dozen locations:
▸ Major international airports in Dubai, Kuwait and the UAE
▸ Erbil International Airport in Iraq
▸ Port of Dubai
▸ Multiple hotels in Dubai and Bahrain
▸ Residential areas in Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, Israel
▸ Residential areas in Bahrain and Qatar
PHAROS NOTE✅ Official CENTCOM fact-check post. Unprecedented: US military directly calling a UN ambassador a liar on social media. The list of civilian targets is consistent with independent reporting from Reuters, BBC, AP, and verified footage. NBC News noted it "has not independently verified CENTCOM's full list" but confirmed several.
Amazon Web Services@@AWSCloudHIGH
AWS Service Health Update — UAE Region:
One of our data centers in the United Arab Emirates was impacted by objects that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire.
The fire department shut off power to the facility and generators as they worked to put out the fire.
We are still awaiting permission to turn the power back on. Getting the data center back up and running may take several hours.
Impacted services: EC2, S3, RDS instances in me-central-1 region. Multi-region failover is active for customers with configured redundancy.
PHAROS NOTE✅ Official AWS statement per NBC News. "Objects that struck the data center" — almost certainly Iranian missile/drone debris. The me-central-1 (UAE) region outage has implications for any customer running sole-region workloads in the Gulf. This is the first confirmed strike on major Western tech infrastructure in a state-on-state conflict.
Abbas Araghchi / Iran FM@@AborderingHIGH
Iran sees no limits in defending itself after the dangerous assassination of our Supreme Leader.
The US and Israel have committed a grave violation of international law. This war was launched by them and pressure must be exerted on them.
We call on neighboring states to express their dissatisfaction to Washington and Tel Aviv.
Iran's response has been and will continue to be directed at military targets in self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
PHAROS NOTE⚠️ Iran FM official account. The claim that strikes are "directed at military targets" is directly contradicted by CENTCOM's fact-check listing civilian targets hit across the Gulf. CENTCOM called the Iran UN ambassador's similar claim a "lie." Cross-reference with confirmed civilian strikes on Dubai hotels, airports, Beit Shemesh synagogue.