Iran president says cyberattack not the first, won’t be last

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited gas stations in Tehran a day after a cyberattack, presumably from a foreign country, caused long delays at the pump.

Raisi said that this cyberattack is neither the first time nor will it be the last and asked people to be prepared for more. At a cabinet meeting, Raisi also said that the attack's purpose was to “disrupt the lives of people.” 

Officials did not become entangled in the problem and they quickly resolved it, Raisi said. He also noted that the Iranian people did not allow “others to take advantage” of the situation, meaning they did not make the attack into a reason for anti-government protests, which Raisi assumed was the intent.

Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji said that many gas stations are now operating and that issues with refueling cards will be resolved in “one to two days.” Gasoline is heavily subsidized in Iran, and Iranian drivers have quota cards to use at stations. He added that Iran had moved many of these refueling stations offline in order to make them operational again and that there would be an investigation to determine the nature of the attack.