Minister of Intelligence: Information will be provided on whether attacks on gas stations are domestic or foreign
Four days after the cyberattacks on 4,300 gas stations, Iran's intelligence minister promised that full details of the cyberattack would be provided to the public. He said that a report would also be made on whether the perpetrators were foreign or domestic.
On Thursday, October 29, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib appeared at the ministry's news headquarters regarding different information regarding cyber attacks on gas stations and disruptions in fuel supply, and said that complete information about the cyber attack will be provided to the public.
Khatib emphasized: "We cannot make a precise statement on this until we obtain accurate information on this matter. This information must be collected and the various relevant security and defense institutions must exchange this information with each other and present the results to the nation."
Four days after the cyberattack on 4,300 gas stations across the country, the Minister of Intelligence did not make any specific statements about the origin and perpetrators of the attacks.
Previously, some officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran had expressed their views on the similarity of this attack to previous attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran's infrastructure, including the country's railways, and also on the possibility that this attack was foreign.
Abolhassan Firouzabadi, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of Iran, announced on Tuesday night, November 25, in a special talk show on Sima Channel 2 that these cyber attacks, like the cyber attack on the Islamic Republic's railway systems, were carried out from outside the country.
Instead of providing information about the origin and perpetrators of these attacks, media outlets affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, including Fars News Agency, pointed to the approach of the previous government and wrote: "If such an incident had happened during the Rouhani government, several major security incidents would have occurred in different parts of the country by now, and the country would be in the grip of severe unrest."
The Fars News Agency's reference to "severe unrest" refers to the protests that took place in November 2019 as a result of rising gasoline prices.
The government's concern about the repetition of the November 2009 protests
In the current cyberattack on the Iranian Broadcasting System's smart fuel system, the broadcaster interrupted its programs and broadcast breaking news, and various news sections covered the issue as the first news item.
Officials regularly explained to the public that gasoline would not become more expensive.
The incident in November has also brought back memories of the protests two years ago against the increase in gasoline prices.
After five weeks of these protests, the Reuters news agency reported in an exclusive report, citing Iranian officials, that about 1,500 people had been killed in the protests in Iran.
At the time, the news agency quoted three sources close to the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran as saying that the severe suppression of the protests was carried out on Khamenei's orders.
Source: DW
