The British government faces accusations of failing to represent the country’s national interests as it was revealed overnight that a cyber attack launched against parliamentary e-mails, previously blamed on Russia, actually came from the Iranian regime.
Around 9,000 parliamentary e-mails were affected by the breach, with the news coming out on the same day the UK government doubled down on its support for the Iran deal that U.S. President Donald J. Trump refused to certify.
The “brute force” attack, reported overnight by The Times of London, is believed to include e-mail from Theresa May’s office as well as those of other Cabinet members.
At they same time, the British government alongside its European Union partners pushed back against President Trump’s decision not to recertify President Barack Obama’s Iran deal.
Immediately after the U.S. government declared they could not and would not “make this certification”, EU and UK sources began major spin operations in Iran’s favor.
Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) stated: “Our governments are committed to ensuring the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to Congress] is maintained” and their social media feeds began blasting out pro Iran deal statements:
The Iran Deal neutralises their nuclear programme pic.twitter.com/yaYDosFwMB
— Foreign Office (@foreignoffice) October 13, 2017
Within hours however, Mrs May’s government was left embarrassed as it transpired that it was indeed Iran, not Russia, that was responsible for the major cyber attack on the UK Parliament earlier this year.
The Times called the timing “awkward” for Mrs. May, adding that while Downing Street refused to comment, “…British officials acknowledged that the revelation had complicated Mrs May’s response to Mr Trump”.
Other European leaders such as Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron also issued supportive statements of the Iran deal which President Trump has previously lambasted, and which members of the U.S. foreign policy community are becoming increasingly skeptical of.
Last year it was revealed how Ben Rhodes, former senior Obama advisor, created the conditions within which the Iran deal was struck.
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