Business & Economy

Suspected cyber attack disrupts Iran’s gas supply

Tehran, Dec 18 (EFE).- Iran suffered a major fuel crisis on Monday after at least 70 percent of gas stations were hit by a suspected cyber attack, with a hacker group allegedly linked to Israel claiming responsibility for the strike.

The failure could be due to “outside interference,” Petroleum Minister Javad Owji told Iranian state media.

Reza Navar, the spokesperson for a gas station owners association, told the state-run Fars news agency that a “software problem with the fuel system has been confirmed … and experts are currently fixing the issue.”

Deputy Oil Minister Jalil Salari told the news agency that the authorities expected the resumption of fuel supply before the end of the day.

“All fuel stations will return to their normal state…the problem will first be resolved,” Salari said.

However, hacker group Gonjeshke Darande, which translates into “Predatory Sparrow,” claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We, Gonjeshke Darande, carried out another cyber attack today, taking out a majority of the gas pumps throughout Iran,” the group, widely reported to have links with Israel, said on its Telegram channel.

The hackers said the attack was in response to the “aggression of the Islamic republic” and its proxies in the region, referring to Yemen’s Houthi rebels who have supported Hamas in the Gaza war against Israel.

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched missiles and drones on southern Israel in the last two months, also targeting ships flying the flag of the Jewish state or owned by Israeli companies in the Red Sea.

“(Ali) Khamenei (Iran’s supreme leader) (is) playing with fire,” the hackers said.

In 2021, Iran suffered a cyber attack that disrupted fuel stations for almost an entire day.

President Ibrahim Raisi has ordered immediate resolution to the disruption and asked the petroleum ministry to investigate what caused the outage. EFE

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