Iranian Officials Not Sure Cyberattack Or Sabotage Hit Gas Stations

Almost a week after a major disruption at more than 4,000 gas stations in Iran, officials say it is not clear whether it was a cyberattack or sabotage in Iran.

Since October 26, Iran has been trying to fix a payment system at all gas station nationwide that suddenly broke down, creating a major disruption. The system provides a limited amount of cheap, subsidized fuel to every citizen and the without it, people have only one option, paying double for freely sold fuel.

Officials and local media initially said it was a cyberattack, but that raised questions, since reportedly the payment system is not connected to the Internet.

By Monday, 20 percent of all locations still could not sell the cheaper gas, as gas stations were gradually coming back to full operations.

The spokesman of parliament’s security committee, Mahmoud Abbas Meshkinzadeh, announced Monday that government agencies have not reached a concensus over the cause of the disruption and are not certain if it was a cyberattack from abroad or infiltration and sabotage from within Iran.

Iran International never reported the incident as a proven cyberattack, since there was never independent confirmation and relying only on statements by Iranian officials in a security-related matter would be a mistake.

Meshkinzadeh’s statement about lack of a conclusion came as a top Revolutionary Guard commander, Gholamreza Jalai, in charge of Iran’s civil defense organization said Saturday that analysis showed Israel and the United States were behind the disruption, although no forensic evidence has been found.

“We are still unable to say forensically, but analytically I believe it was carried out by the Zionist regime, the Americans and their agents,” Jalali said.

Meshkinzadeh said that the oil ministry, the intelligence ministry, civil defense officials and others held a meeting at parliament’s security committee to discuss ways to deter cyberattacks, but the overall conclusion was that the cause of the incident with gasoline distribution remained unclear.

He added that infiltration and sabotage is not a far-fetched scenario, and the parliamentary committee will do a more in-depth study and will issue a final report.

Iran has been the subject of mysterious attacks since July 2020 that twice caused explosions in its high-security Natanz uranium enrichment facility, causing major damage. Most observers and major international media outlets, as well as Iranian officials, have pointed fingers at Israel, which routinely neither confirms nor denies such reports.

Another spectacular operation that happened in public and showed the level of alleged Israeli infiltration, was the Hollywood thriller-style assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist and official, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in November 2020. All accounts eventually said that a sophisticated, remote-controlled machinegun installed in a van parked alongside the road opened fire on Fakhrizadeh’s approaching vehicle, killing him on the spot.