SpaceX goes public on Friday. The day before, a foreign state called its gear a target.
Iranian state media said Iran now sees all of Elon Musk's Middle East firms as fair game. That includes Starlink.
Why Starlink Is In The Crosshairs
Starlink is the satellite internet service SpaceX runs. In this war, it does more than stream movies.
It has helped run U.S. attack drones. It has also guided strike boats at sea.
That use is what made it a target. Iran now says it can hit any Musk site in the region.
The threat names a Starlink ground station. That station links the satellites to the war effort.
Iran goes further with its claim. It says the U.S. used Musk's firms to commit war crimes against it.
One state source did not mince words. Iran "reserves the right to attack all facilities" tied to Musk in the region, the source said.
Here is the catch. The thing that makes Starlink useful also makes it a bullseye.
Think of the only bridge into a town. It is handy for everyone, and it is the first thing an enemy wants to take out.
We track how stories like this move markets in Market Briefs - five minutes each morning, plus a free investing masterclass when you join.
A Threat With Bad Timing
The warning came after days of strikes. The U.S. and Iran have traded fire all week.
It started Monday. Trump says Iran shot down a U.S. Army helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. hit back on Tuesday. Iran struck again, and the U.S. fired more missiles on Wednesday.
"We dropped $250 million worth of bombs on them last night," Trump said Thursday. He also warned of more to come.
The fighting has wrecked a shaky ceasefire. It has stalled any hope of a peace deal.
He says the U.S. will soon seize Iran's main oil export hub. That kind of talk pushes oil prices around, which feeds straight into stocks.
Iran has rattled this saber before. Its Revolutionary Guard once named Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google as targets too.
For now, no Musk site has been hit. Neither SpaceX nor the White House would comment.
What To Watch
SpaceX is about to ask the public to price a company. Its hardware now sits in a war zone.
Investors who follow space stocks just got a live test. They get to see how much war risk a rocket maker carries.
A threat like this is hard to price. War risk does not show up neatly on a balance sheet.
Starlink is the crown jewel here. It is also the part Iran can reach.
The deal is huge. Orders have topped $250 billion, and at $135 a share the firm would be worth about $1.78 trillion.
Gwynne Shotwell runs SpaceX as its president. She is set to talk up the IPO on Friday morning. The pitch and the threat land on the same day.
If you want the market read on news like this before the open, join 350,000+ investors reading Market Briefs and get a 45-minute investing course thrown in.
