Tehran’s City Council Accuses Mossad, MEK For Last Week’s Cyberattack

The chairman of Tehran’s city council says that last week cyberattack was carried out by Mossad, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), and all forces against the Islamic revolution. 

Mehdi Chamran made the remarks on Tuesday in reference to the Thursday attack that deactivated over 5,000 surveillance cameras and 150 websites and online services of Tehran Municipality. An Iranian hacktivist group named ‘Uprising till Overthrow' took responsibilty.

“Detailed planning was carried out by the Mossad and the “hypocrites” and the cooperation of the two with all the counterrevolutionaries and those who oppose the Islamic Republic,” he said. Iranian officials always refer to the exiled MEK as 'hypocrites'.

His comments came as most of the services are still offline and the authorities have warned all municipal employees against turning on their systems, suggesting that the municipality has not yet figured out how their systems were breached. 

During the same session, Asghar Ghaemi, a member of the Council, said, "We should apologize to the people of Tehran for this cyberattack,” expressing hope that the damages to the municipality will be compensated and services will be back online. 

The hacktivist group, reportedly affiliated with the MEK, put photos of the leaders of the group Massoud and Maryam Rajavi as well as insults at Khomeini, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and President Ebrahim Raisi on the websites of Tehran Municipality. The MEK released a video clip showing the websites defaced with a graphic with an image of Khamenei with a red 'X' over his face, while calling for an “uprising until overthrow.”