BICOM

Iran’s key infrastructure and computer networks have been attacked by a computer virus, similar to the 2011 Stuxnet virus.

Israel’s Hadashot News said yesterday that Iran “has admitted in the past few days that it is again facing a [Stuxnet-like] attack, from a more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated virus than before, that has hit infrastructure and strategic networks”. Israeli officials did not comment on the reports.

Hadashot also reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s phone has been bugged, noting that the Iranians “had to switch it for an encrypted model because they understand that someone has been listening to him for days and weeks”.

General Gholamreza Jalali, Iran’s head of the Passive Defence Organisation that is charged with combating sabotage activity, was quoted by ISNA news agency on Sunday saying that the agency discovered and neutralised “a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of several parts” that was trying to breach Iranian systems.

Israeli officials said yesterday that Israel’s Mossad intelligence service presented Denmark with information regarding Tehran’s alleged plot against Iranian opposition figures residing in the country. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, accused Mossad of carrying out “false flag” operations in a bid to undermine the Islamic Republic’s global standing.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen said on Wednesday he was speaking with European countries about possible sanctions on Iran over the alleged attack plot, but said that any response should not undermine the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Writing in Haaretz, Zvi Barel said Denmark’s response “has created a dilemma for the rest of Europe, which must now decide whether the planned attack requires them to freeze their struggle against the [Trump administration’s nuclear] sanctions, or whether it’s worth separating the war on terror from the importance of the nuclear agreement”.