War in the cloud: Iran uses Chinese satellite and challenges US hegemony

The conflict in the Middle East has entered a new phase that transcends trenches and missiles: the dispute for control of the digital infrastructures that sustain modern warfare. As Iran hones its strike capabilities with unprecedented precision, experts point to a fundamental strategic shift — the adoption of China’s BeiDou satellite navigation system, replacing the American GPS.

In interviews with Red Portalsociologist Sergio Amadeu, professor at UFABC, specialist in information and communication technology, and Ergon Cugler, researcher at the National Research Council, advisor to the Presidency of the Republic and specialist in public management, analyze how digital sovereignty went from being a technical issue to becoming a matter of national security.

Big Tech as a legitimate military target

For Sergio Amadeu, contemporary war requires rethinking the role of technological corporations. “While we worship Big Techs and place university and government data on these corporations, Iran has declared them to be legitimate military targets,” he says. The Iranian strategy is not just rhetoric: AWS, Oracle and Microsoft were effectively targeted for participating, directly or indirectly, in the war efforts of Israel and the United States.

Amadeu highlights that Iran has developed its own capabilities — drones, missiles, defense industry — and uses intelligent asymmetric tactics. “They used various traps, such as missiles and drones without warheads so that they could be shot down by interception weapons that cost millions of dollars,” he explains. While Washington spends fortunes on defense systems, Tehran depletes adversary resources with low-cost operations.

From the cloud to the battlefield: war is also digital

Ergon Cugler expands on the subject: “Anyone who thinks that war only involves tanks and rifles is living in the last century.” For the researcher, the disputes of a multipolar and super-technological world also take place in the “cloud” — not the ethereal metaphor, but data centers in global basements connected by submarine cables.

Technological dependence has become a strategic vulnerability. Cugler recalls that, during trade tensions, Donald Trump even floated the idea of ​​removing Brazil’s access to GPS. “There were people who said it was a lie, but the fact is that we were held hostage by a political decision that Donald Trump could make at any time”, he warns.

BeiDou: the end of the American monopoly?

The BeiDou system, launched by China in 2020, represents a concrete alternative to GPS. With 45 satellites — compared to 24 in the American system — BeiDou offers accuracy of less than one meter for authorized users and advanced anti-interference features, such as frequency hopping and authentication of navigation messages.

According to analysts, Iran would have signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate BeiDou into its military infrastructure as early as 2015, accelerating the transition after the Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of 2021. The completion of the migration, in June 2025, would coincide with the leap in precision observed in Iranian attacks.

In contested environments, where signals can be blocked or spoofed, relying on a single constellation is a strategic risk.

Digital sovereignty as a currency of power

For Cugler, technology in a multipolar world “stops being just any asset and even becomes a currency of exchange for so-called soft power”. Countries that control digital infrastructures can influence, coerce or guide the behavior of dependent nations.

The global response to American hegemony is already underway: the European Union developed Galileo, Russia maintains Glonass, India and China invest in their own systems. “That’s why, to debate a country’s sovereignty, we also need to debate so-called digital sovereignty”, argues Cugler. “Without it, it becomes impossible to have any possible horizon of leaving the chains of those who control even the infrastructures”.

Brazil at the technological crossroads

The lessons of the Iranian conflict resonate particularly in Brazil. While the country debates platform regulation and data protection, dependence on infrastructure controlled by foreign powers remains little discussed as a national security issue.

Amadeu warns that Brazil replicates vulnerabilities that can be exploited in scenarios of geopolitical tension. The presence of American corporations’ data centers on national territory, without counterparts of sovereignty or public control, puts not only data at risk, but the State’s own autonomous decision-making capacity.

Technology is geopolitics

Iran’s use of BeiDou — if confirmed — is not just a technical maneuver: it is a sign that the global technological architecture is fragmenting. In a world where satellite navigation, data cloud and artificial intelligence define military and economic capabilities, digital sovereignty ceases to be an option and becomes an imperative.

As Cugler summarizes: “Iran has already given the message: it is not possible to depend on the United States, including driving in the middle of the street.” For nations that aspire to strategic autonomy, the message is clear: developing their own capabilities and diversifying technological partnerships is no longer a question of development — it is a question of survival.