TEHRAN — As part of the “Kill Iran with a thousand knife wounds” strategy, a cyberattack on Tuesday disrupted Iran’s fuel stations.

No group, country or individual has taken the responsibility for this attack, but there are signs that the cyber sabotage act was carried out by the Israelis. 
Iranian officials said that the cyberattack was launched from a foreign country, without naming it. 

The National Center for Cyberspace released a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying that the fuel distribution process will soon go back to normal.

Prior to releasing the statement, Nour News, a website close to the Supreme National Security Council, confirmed that a cyberattack had disrupted the distribution of fuel in Iran’s petrol stations. 

“Technicians are trying to resolve the issue,” an informed source at the SNSC said. 

According to Fereydoun Hasanvand, head of the Energy Committee at the parliament, Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf himself is pursuing the fuel case.
He rejected rumors in social media regarding an increase in fuel price, saying that the problem will be resolved in the coming hours.

Former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) cyber official Harel Menashri told KAN radio that there was a good chance to accomplish such a broad and successful attack on Tuesday. The remarks by Menashri shows that the hacker would have to be a nation-state actor.

There seems to be an attempt behind this act of sabotage to create frustration and dissatisfaction among the Iranians from the north to the south, and thus affect what is happening in Tehran, the heart of Iran. The main goal of the aggressors is to put pressure on the government to return to the negotiating table on the nuclear deal, which has been suspended.

“In fact, this is a parallel operation that primarily signals to the Iranian regime, this is just the beginning of an attack that could exacerbate much more severe and complex disorders,” an Israeli expert told Israeli state TV on Wednesday. 

Israeli media jubilantly covered the fuel distribution shutdown. 

According to the Israeli media, Tel Aviv has set a new goal in Iran: to harm the quality of life of its citizens

The Israeli military has recently formed the impression that pressure from the people in Iran could affect the government’s decision on the nuclear issue.

Even if the cyberattack, that annoyed hundreds of thousands of Iranian drivers on Tuesday, was not carried out by the Israeli regime, it is in line with the current perception of the regime’s military which has been seeking to undermine Iran's civilian nuclear program. 

In Israel, the Iranian public, or at least the educated urban community, has recently been identified as a special target. The aim is to put significant pressure on the government to deal with the damage to the quality of people’s life.

On the other hand, Iran began its remedial measures immediately. First, the Oil Ministry began sending experts to manually fix the petrol stations and get them back on track.

Then, the municipality announced that subway tickets are free of charge, and the stations will work until 00:00. 

President Ebrahim Raisi, who was set to inaugurate the Tehran conference on Afghanistan on Wednesday morning, sent Vice President Mohammad Mokhber to do the job and he himself went to the Oil Ministry to examine the dimensions of the cyberattack in person. He then went to a petrol station and talked to the people and drivers. 

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Raisi said that the purpose of this action was to disrupt people's lives so that they can achieve their specific goals.

“In this cyberattack, not only the officials were not confused, but they also managed the situation immediately, and the people also showed their awareness in the face of this problem and did not allow anyone to abuse and seize the opportunity,” the president added. 
 
Raisi praised the timely information of the national media and emphasized that he sincerely appreciates the support and cooperation by the people. 

“In return, the Ministry of Oil must take action to compensate for the effects of the disruption, so that the rights of the people are not lost,” he noted. 

Raisi stressed, “We must be seriously prepared in the field of cyber warfare and the relevant agencies, with proper division of labor, should not allow the enemy to pursue its sinister goals in this field and create problems in the process of people's lives.”

Iranian people once again failed the foes’ strategy.