Iran accuses Israel-linked group of cyberattack on petrol stations

Iran has accused a hacking group with links to Israel of cyberattacks that have disrupted services at petrol stations across the country today, Iranian state TV and Israeli local media have reported. According to Reuters, oil Minister Javad Owji told Iranian state TV that services had been disrupted at about 70 per cent of Iran’s petrol stations and that outside interference was a possible cause.

The Predatory Sparrow group is said to have claimed that it was behind the disruption. Israeli as well as Iranian media outlets reported the claim.

“This cyberattack was carried out in a controlled manner to avoid potential damage to emergency services,” said Predatory Sparrow in a public statement. However, Iran’s civil defence agency, which is responsible for the country’s cybersecurity, said it was still considering all possible causes for the disruptions even as it was investigating the attacks.

Iranian state media added the that group had in the past claimed responsibility for cyberattacks against Iranian petrol stations, rail networks and steel factories. The attacks on Monday are the first such incidents since 2021, when a major cyberattack in Iran disrupted the sale of fuel, causing long queues at petrol stations across the country. Iran accused Israel and the United States of being behind those attacks.

The disruption began early on Monday and was especially acute in Tehran, forcing many petrol stations to operate manually, Iranian media reported. “At least 30 per cent of petrol stations are working, with the rest gradually resolving the disruption in services,” explained Owji.

A spokesperson for Iran’s petrol stations association, Reza Navar, told semi-official Fars news agency that a software issue was behind the disruption. “A software problem with the fuel system has been confirmed in some stations across the country and experts are currently fixing the issue,” he said. There was no fuel supply shortage, he added, but still called on drivers not to go to petrol stations.

The oil ministry earlier told state TV that the disruption was not linked to plans to increase the price of fuel, a policy that caused widespread protests in 2019 and led to violent repression. Petrol prices are subsidised in Iran to keep them low.

Israel has not yet commented about the cyberattack in Iran. Moreover, the apartheid state’s Cyber Unit claimed today that Iran and Hezbollah were behind an attempted cyberattack on a hospital in northern Israel about three weeks ago. It said that the attack was thwarted but that the hackers were able to retrieve “some of the sensitive information stored in the hospital’s information systems.”

READ: Hezbollah targets 3 Israeli military sites