Oil or fuel facility

Iranian fuel-card payment system — nationwide cyberattack

26 October 2021

Iran

What happened

A cyberattack disabled the nationwide system allowing Iranian motorists to buy government-subsidized fuel with state-issued smart cards, affecting all of the country's roughly 4,300 gas stations. Long queues and traffic disruption followed as many drivers could only buy fuel at the unsubsidized rate; digital billboards in Tehran and Isfahan were also compromised, and affected pump screens displayed a message including a phone number linked to the Supreme Leader's office. Iran's oil minister said the fuel-supply system itself was not compromised and that stations continued dispensing fuel manually. About 3,200 of 4,300 stations had been reconnected to the card system within four days.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.

Evidence
Documented
Confidence
High
Infrastructure
Oil or fuel facility
Latitude
32.4279°
Longitude
53.6880°

Attribution

Claimed by "Gonjeshke Darande" ("Predatory Sparrow"); Iranian officials blamed Israel and the United States

Iran did not name a specific responsible state in initial statements; a group calling itself Predatory Sparrow, widely assessed to have links to Israel, later claimed responsibility for this and related attacks. No government has publicly confirmed direct involvement.

Sources

  1. Cyberattack in Iran cripples fuel stationsThe Washington Post · Incident reporting