ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Iran’s secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) announced Monday the dismantling of a US cyberespionage organization amid soaring US-Iran tensions following attacks by unknown assailants on two Gulf tankers.
“Some time ago, one of the CIA’s [Central Intelligence Agency] most sophisticated cyber networks, used in cyberespionage and an important part of CIA operational capabilities in the countries targeted by America, was discovered by Iran’s intelligence agencies and dismantled,” secretary Ali Shamkhani told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) channel. IRIB is a centralized body in charge of all state broadcasting in Iran.
Shamkhani claimed that Iran is countering US cyberespionage through its own “international anti-spying network” of unnamed countries, with which Iran has shared information.
The network’s efforts have proven successful, Shamkhani said, leading to the arrest and confessions of alleged CIA operatives.
He further told IRIB that the CIA has admitted to its operatives being foiled.
Shamkhani’s assertions come during a period of heightened tension between the US and Iran.
Two tankers, the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous and Norwegian-operated Front Altair, were heavily damaged in attacks on Thursday. The US has accused Iran of being behind the attack, a claim Iran has vehemently denied.
Iranian efforts to counter cyberespionage operations kicked off in 2010 after a malicious computer worm called Stuxnet, believed to have been developed by both US and Israel, sabotaged many of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges at Natanz Nuclear Facilities, Isfahan province.
A reported 20 per cent of centrifuges at the plant had to be decommissioned after being infected by the virus.
US president Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, claiming it neither prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons nor did it curb its regional adventurism.
The US has since imposed a raft of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports, with the stated aim of driving them down to zero. Iran, on its part, has remained defiant, announcing that it will further go back on its nuclear deal commitments by breaking its uranium stockpile limit in the next 10 days.
In a further blow to relations, Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei cast aside hopes of diplomatic talks last Thursday, saying that he did not consider US President Trump "worthy of exchanging any messages".
