With Iranian leaders suffering their most dangerous security breach since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country’s cyber security command banned officials from using communications devices and mobile phones, Fars news agency reported.
Israel launched a “massive cyber war” against Iran’s digital infrastructure, Iranian media reported.
Ever since the Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and triggered the Gaza war, Khamenei’s regional influence has been weakening as Israel has pounded Iran’s proxies, from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq. And Iran’s close ally, Syria’s autocratic president Bashar al-Assad, has been ousted.
Israel launched its air war, its largest ever on Iran, on Friday after saying it had concluded the Islamic Republic was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that he will not back down until Iran’s nuclear development is disabled, while Trump says the Israeli assault could end if Iran agrees to strict curbs on enrichment.
Before Israel’s attack began, the 35-nation board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.
The IAEA said on Tuesday there were indications of direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at the Natanz facility, and that there was no change to report at the Fordow and Isfahan sites.
Israel’s Katz said the Iranian nuclear installation at Fordow, where an enrichment site is dug deep into a mountain, was an issue that will “of course” be addressed.