Iran has formally designated Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink facilities across the Middle East as military targets, according to state-run Fars News Agency, escalating tensions that now extend directly into the commercial space and satellite communications sectors.
Fars reported that “all interests related to economic holdings managed by Elon Musk in West Asia, including Arab countries and Israel, have been entirely included in the initial list for drafting new targets.”
The agency cited evidence that the US and Israeli militaries had used Musk-linked infrastructure, including the Starlink satellite network and the X platform. Iran also alleged that US military operations, conducted with support from Musk-affiliated companies, included strikes on water infrastructure in southern Iran.
Among the specific assets named were Starlink ground stations in Israel, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE and Oman, as well as SpaceX-related infrastructure tied to Abu Dhabi investment firms Alpha Dhabi Holding and Mubadala. Both firms have disclosed investments in Musk-affiliated ventures, placing Gulf sovereign wealth assets directly in the crosshairs of Iran’s updated target list.
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The designation comes at a particularly fraught moment. SpaceX is expected to go public on June 12, with Gulf sovereign wealth funds having submitted billions of dollars in orders for the offering, according to Bloomberg. A valuation of approximately $1.75 trillion is broadly anticipated, representing a dramatic increase from the company’s most recent private valuation of around $400 billion.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and ADQ, the Qatar Investment Authority and Oman’s sovereign wealth fund have all built exposure to Musk-linked companies in recent years, reflecting the region’s broader push to diversify beyond energy revenues.
Goldman Sachs projections reported by Reuters forecast SpaceX revenue growing from $18.7 billion in 2025 to $474 billion by 2030, driven in part by AI-related services that the bank estimates could reach $322 billion annually by the same year. Those figures underpin much of the Gulf region’s strategic rationale for backing the company.
Starlink has also been a flashpoint inside Iran itself. Nearly 6,000 terminals were purchased by the US State Department, most of them in January, to help Iranian dissidents bypass government-imposed internet blackouts, the Wall Street Journal reported. Thousands more were reportedly smuggled into the country during anti-government uprisings earlier this year. Iran bans the devices outright, with possession carrying a prison sentence of up to two years.
The broader context is an active and intensifying military confrontation. The US carried out strikes on Iranian military sites last night, with US Central Command describing hits on “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defence sites.”
Iran has claimed to have fired on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain and declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all shipping, though CENTCOM said commercial vessels continued to transit the waterway. President Trump has threatened further strikes and raised the prospect of seizing Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, as leverage over Tehran’s energy revenues.
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