Iran Officials Accuse Israel of New Cyberattack

In this Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017 file photo, Stuart Davis, a director at one of FireEye's
AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Iranian officials say the country is being targeted by a cyberattack. Telecommunication Minister Mohammad Javad Azeri Jahromi and his deputy, Hamid Fatahi, both tweeted about the attack on Monday — the same day U.S. sanctions on the country once lifted by the nuclear deal resumed.

They blamed Israel for the attack and said it targeted Iran’s communications infrastructure, without elaborating.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Iran previously faced a computer virus called Stuxnet, which destroyed thousands of centrifuges involved in Iran’s contested nuclear program in 2011. Stuxnet is widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation, though neither country has acknowledged being behind the attack.

Gen. Gholam Reza Jalali, the head of country’s military unit in charge of combatting sabotage, said last week that President Hassan Rouhani’s cell phone was tapped recently.

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