A group with ties to Israel says it is responsible, blaming Iranian aggression in the region; 70% of stations were affected.
DUBAI: On Monday, Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji revealed that a cyberattack was to blame for the problems at gas stations across the country.
Iranian state TV and Israeli local media both said that the attack that stopped services at gas stations across the country on Monday was done by a hacking group that Iran says has ties to Israel.
Before, Owji told Iranian state TV that services had been interrupted at around 70% of Iran’s gas stations and that influence from outside sources might be to blame. He later said that 1,650 gas stations were open. The minister is in charge of 3,800 gas stations.
The interference was blamed on a group called Gonjeshke Darande, which means “Predatory Sparrow” in English. The claim was also reported by Israeli news sites.
The group said in a Telegram message, “This cyberattack was carried out in a controlled manner to avoid possible damage to emergency services.”
It was “in response to the aggression of the Islamic Republic and its proxies in the region” that the cyberattack happened.
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The Iranian civil defense office, which is in charge of cybersecurity, said it was still looking into all the possible reasons for the problems.
Israel did not answer right away when asked for a word on the event.
Iranian state media also said that the hacker group had previously said that they had attacked Iranian gas stations, rail networks, and steel plants online.
Predatory Sparrow put up a film last year of an explosion inside one of those steel factories, which it said was caused by a hack.
In 2021, Iran was hit by a major cyberattack that also stopped the sale of fuel. This led to long lines at gas stations across the country, where prices are greatly subsidized. It was Iran that said Israel and the US were most likely behind those strikes.
A broad view of a gas station in Tehran, Iran, on December 18, 2023, when something was wrong with them. Picture: Reuters
Iranian media said that many gas shops had to work by hand on Monday because the problems started early and were worst in Tehran.
There was no lack of fuel, according to Reza Navar, a spokesman for Iran’s petrol stations association. He told the semi-official Fars news agency that drivers should not go to gas stations.
“A software problem with the fuel system has been confirmed in some stations across the country and experts are currently fixing the issue,” said Navar.
Earlier, the oil minister told state TV that the problem had nothing to do with plans to raise the price of fuel, which in 2019 led to large-scale protests and violent police response.
State TV said gas shops were trying to get fuel by hand and that fixing the problems would take at least six to seven hours.
The Cyber Unit of Israel said on Monday that Iran and Hezbollah were behind a cyberattack on a hospital in northern Israel about three weeks ago. It said that hackers got “some of the sensitive information stored in the hospital’s information systems” even though the attack was stopped.
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