Iranian state media claimed that a cyberattack on Tuesday had disrupted the supply of subsidized gasoline across the country. The disruption prompted lengthy lines at gas stations only weeks before the anniversary of 2019 public demonstrations over fuel price hikes.
Iran claims it is on high alert for cyberattacks, which it had previously blamed on countries hostile to it such as the U.S. and Israel. The U.S. and other Western countries had also previously accused Iran of attempting to disrupt and breach their networks.
State broadcaster IRIB said technical experts are already working to fix the issue caused by hackers. It added that the refueling process for subsidized gasoline should return to normal soon.
Only smart card sales for cheaper rationed gasoline were affected by the hack, the energy ministry's news agency SHANA said. Customers could still buy fuel at higher prices at major gas stations.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace, Abolhassan Firouzabadi, said the cyberattack was likely carried out by a foreign country. He declined to speculate on which country and how the cyberattack was done.
The disruption to the country's subsidized fuel supply occurred only days before the second anniversary of a fuel price hike in November 2019, which sparked major street protests and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people by security forces.
Videos on social media revealed what seemed to be hacked digital traffic signs with words like "Khamenei, where is our gasoline?" referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
After online services were paralyzed by hackers, industry authorities informed state television that almost half of gas stations had reopened as technicians scrambled to enable manual settings. Officials assured that there would be no shortages of fuel and that the remaining stations will reopen by Wednesday afternoon.
Iran has been the subject of a number of cyberattacks in the past, including one in July when the transport ministry's website was brought down by a "cyber disturbance," as reported by state media.
The cyberattack also caused train services to be disrupted. Hackers also posted the phone number of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office as the number to call for information.
Stuxnet, a computer virus commonly thought to have been produced by the U.S. and Israel, was found in 2010 after it was deployed to target an Iranian uranium enrichment plant.
