Iran’s president says cyberattack meant to create ‘disorder’

Iran’s president said Wednesday that a cyberattack which paralysed every gas station in the Islamic Republic was designed to get people angry by creating disorder and disruption, as long lines still snaked around the pumps a day after the incident began.

Ebrahim Raisi’s remarks stopped short of assigning blame for the attack, which rendered useless the government-issued electronic cards that many Iranians use to buy subsidized fuel at the pump.

However, they suggested that he and others in the theocracy believe anti-Iranian forces carried out an assault likely designed to inflame the country as the second anniversary of a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests over gasoline prices approaches.