Strikes To Begin Tomorrow: Iran Warns Tech Firms Over US' Killing Of Leaders

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that they would target 18 leading US technology firms such as Apple, Google, Meta, IBM, Tesla and Boeing starting April 1. In a statement on Tuesday, the Guards alleged that the companies were complicit in the “targeted assassination” of officials.

"These companies, starting from 8:00 pm (1630 GMT) Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1, should expect the destruction of their relevant units in exchange for every assassination in Iran," the statement read.

In a warning to the employees, it added, "We advise the employees of these institutions to immediately leave their workplaces to preserve their lives."

The companies include -- Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Dell, Tesla, Nvidia, Boeing, HP, Cisco, Oracle, Planter, J.P. Morgan, GE, Spire Solutions and G42.

They labelled the firms as "terrorist companies" in the statement and asked residents living around these firms to leave the area "within a one-kilometre radius" and to move to a safer place.

The threat comes as President Donald Trump says he is conducting diplomacy aimed at putting an end to the conflict while also threatening to amplify the US-Israeli campaign against the Islamic republic. 

The Guards' statement said the US government and tech giants had "ignored our repeated warnings regarding the necessity" of halting operations targeting top Iranian officials, alleging that the tech firms are the "main element in designing and tracking assassination targets".

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour were killed on the first day of the war on February 28, with the US and Israel seeking to kill an entire echelon of the Iranian leadership.

The Islamic republic's powerful security chief, Ali Larijani, has also been killed, as have many other prominent figures.