Iran says it was targeted by ‘very organized and governmental’ cyberattack

Iran announced Wednesday that it had blocked a “very organized and governmental” cyberattack, though it offered no specifics on the incident, The Associated Press reports.

“I cannot give details but yes, we were targeted by a very organized and governmental cyberattack,” Iran’s telecommunications minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, said, according to the AP, which cited Tehran’s official IRNA news agency.

“We are looking into the attack’s different dimensions and will release a report on it,” he added. “It was a massive attack.”

On Tuesday, Jahromi reportedly dismissed rumors that an attack had targeted the financial information of millions of Iranians, saying “banks were not hacked.” 

No country or actor has taken credit for the attack, the AP noted, adding that this isn’t the first time Iran has claimed that it was the victim of a cyberattack. 

After Iran downed a U.S. surveillance drone in the Persian Gulf in June, U.S. military cyber forces launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems. 

Relations between Iran and the U.S. have been tenuous since President Trump backed out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed sanctions.