Dell Alerts Employees Amid Iran’s Threats to US Firms in Middle East

Dell has told staff not to travel to the Middle East for work until mid-April. The company also advised employees based in the region to work from home amid Iran’s threats to US firms in the Middle East.

Travel restrictions and work-from-home guidance

An internal travel advisory posted on March 25 set strict limits through April 15. It instructed employees not to travel to, from, or transit through several countries.

The advisory named Israel and Lebanon explicitly. It also covered Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Companies named and the nature of the threat

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps linked statement listed 18 companies as potential targets. The IRGC warning, carried by the Tasnim News Agency, cited possible strikes as early as 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

No confirmed attacks on the named firms had been reported as of Friday. The list included major multinationals such as Meta, Tesla, Boeing, Cisco, Intel, IBM, Palantir, and JPMorgan.

Firms identified

• Meta
• Tesla
• Boeing
• Cisco
• Intel
• IBM
• Palantir
• JPMorgan
• Dell (also named)

Security measures and employee support

In an internal note uploaded to its SharePoint on Tuesday, Dell said it was prioritizing team safety. Filmogaz.com reviewed that company communication.

Dell’s Security & Resiliency Operations team is monitoring physical and cyber threats globally. The company directed staff to counseling, well-being support, and the ISOS travel and health support app.

Many employees in the Middle East were told to work remotely for safety reasons. Dell said it was managing evolving risks, and declined to comment for this story.

Regional context and corporate responses

The current escalation followed a late February joint US-Israeli operation against Iran. Since then, intermittent retaliatory attacks have increased security alerts across the Gulf states.

The US government has urged citizens in the region to depart. Several multinational firms have issued travel guidance similar to Dell’s.