Financial centers with ties to the U.S. or Israel will be considered legitimate targets, Iran’s military announced Wednesday, opening up a new consequential and expensive front in the Middle East war.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, the unified combat command center for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday that “economic centers and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region” would be in the Islamic republic’s bull’s-eye.
It warned people in the region to stay at least 1 kilometer away from the banking centers.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Western attacks forced the decision after an overnight Israeli strike targeted a bank branch in Tehran. Several employees were killed, according to state-affiliated media.
Mr. Zolfaghari did not specify which bank was hit but said the attack came at about 1 a.m. Wednesday Tehran time.
Authorities said the attack was illegal and opened the door for similar retaliation by Iran.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, which could not be independently verified.
Iran’s announcement prompted U.S. banking company Citi to evacuate its Middle East headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, according to an internal staff notice reported first by The New York Times. The notice urges employees to find a safe location away from the office amid “heightened security concerns.”
“As the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” the IRCG-affiliated Tasnim News Agency wrote.
In addition to banking centers, Iran said it’s preparing to attack the offices of high-profile U.S tech companies in the region whose technology has been used in the war. Those companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle.
The attack could have wide-ranging consequences for the Gulf states, which have endured nearly two weeks’ worth of missile and drone attacks by Iran on their critical and diplomatic infrastructure. Iran launched another round of attacks on Wednesday, with UAE and Qatari officials reporting that their forces were aiming to repel missiles and drones.
