Middle East Geopolitical Risks Disrupt AWS and Reshape Marine Insurance Policies

The Strait of Hormuz carries about 20% of global oil trade and is a critical artery for energy, shipping and financial supply chains. AWS’s cloud region in the United Arab Emirates supports companies’ digital operations. Disruptions to both from conflict in the Middle East show that geopolitical risks can simultaneously cripple physical logistics and cloud services, forcing companies to reassess cross-region redundancy and insurance arrangements.

On March 1, 2026, Amazon Web Services said its UAE data center suffered an outage after a rocket attack. On April 28, Marsh said war-risk insurance rates for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had risen from the usual 0.25% of a vessel’s value to 3%–8%, after reaching as high as 10%. A single voyage by a very large crude carrier worth $100 million would cost about $3 million–$8 million to insure, while some underwriters also required an Iranian transit permit.