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People sit in a cafe outside the Apple Store in Dubai on May 8, 2025.

Iran names US tech, finance firms in new Middle East threat list

Firms listed as potential targets included Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, IBM, Palantir and Nvidia, while banking giant JPMorgan and UAE-based AI firm G42 were also listed.

Traffic rolls along a main throughfare under a banner with images of past and present leaders that reads in Farsi, "Domino fall", as daily life returns to the streets following nationwide protests, in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 2026. Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years. Limited internet access briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, a monitor said January

Analysis

Iran’s longest-ever internet blackout leaves 99% offline: What to know

Facing a historic internet blackout, Iranians are locked in a struggle with authorities to find loopholes to get around this communications crackdown, leading to "shutdowns within a shutdown."

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

What we know about UAE blocking X accounts accused of misinformation

Attendees take a picture of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe as he delivers a speech during a visit to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum on February 10, 2018, on Saadiyat island in the Emirati capital, to launch the French-Emirati "Year of Cultural Dialogue". (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

United Arab Emirates

Interview

AI, cybersecurity high on Mideast priorities amid global tech rivalry: Tech Mahindra

A man and woman walk along a promenade overlooking the Burj al-Arab and Dubai skyline on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Mideast’s AI startups capture record $858M in funding during 2025, doubling share

Detailed image of Middle Eastern developer in front of desktop pc monitoring a complex network, ensuring data security and efficient computing using cloud, AI and machine learning.

United Arab Emirates

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

A picture taken on February 18, 2017, shows a general view of a bridge in the Iranian city of Ahvaz during a sandstorm.

Iranian satellite to help agricultural production, disaster management

Iran experiences water issues due to inefficiency, drought and other factors, and this relates to the agricultural sector as well as sandstorms.

Orthodox tech

Israel's ultra-Orthodox entrepreneurs ignore internet taboos

The leadership of the ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel are against the internet, but more and more ultra-Orthodox businesses find ways to be part of the digital arena.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency exchange receives approval to operate in Dubai

FTX is among several cryptocurrency firms that have announced moves to the UAE, which instituted a regulatory mechanism for virtual assets earlier this year.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (back-R) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (back-L) applaud as Egypt's electricity and renewable energy minister, Mohamed Shaker (R), shakes hands with Alexey Likhachev, the director general of Russia's Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, after signing a bilateral agreement in Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 11, 2017.

Russian company begins construction at Egypt’s first nuclear power plant

Russia's state-owned atomic energy company, Rosatom, and the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy have begun work at the Dabaa nuclear power plant, Egypt’s first.

CoinMENA

Bahrain’s CoinMENA to offer crypto services in Egypt

Crypto is particularly growing in Bahrain and the UAE, in part due to evasion of sanctions on Russia in the latter.

Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

UAE bank to allow cryptocurrency trading in dirhams

A bank in the United Arab Emirates will soon allow its customers to trade cryptocurrencies using Emirati currency.

Digital Tourism Hackathon in Palestine.

West Bank hosts first digital tourism hackathon

For the first time, Palestinians hold a digital tourism hackathon to develop innovative solutions to the problems facing the tourism industry.

A worker walks past a waste management facility under construction at the Bee'ah company in the Gulf emirate of Sharjah.

UAE requests bids to build another waste-to-energy power plant

The Emirates recently unveiled a power plant in Sharjah that converts garbage into electricity. Some environmental groups believe such facilities are harmful due to their carbon footprint, but burning garbage also reduces landfill waste.

A view of the Hamdan al-Qara mosque in southern Amman, equipped with 140 solar panels on its roof.

Jordan increases renewable energy use

Jordan does not have large oil and gas reserves, unlike other countries in the region.

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R) looks on during a meeting.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to work with France’s TotalEnergies on carbon capture

The deal came during UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to France, where he strengthened energy relations with the European country. The two countries have grown closer over Libya and energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean.

THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli startup to build quantum computing center

Israel is making progress in the development of quantum computing, as are Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Israeli crypto firm Celsius files for bankruptcy

Cryptocurrencies have plummeted in value this year.