US military cyber forces launch attack on Iranian military computer systems

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In this photo released on May 11, 2014, by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Third of Khordad air defense system is displayed while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits an exhibition of achievements of Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, in Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down a U.S. surveillance drone Thursday, June 20, 2019, in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first time the Islamic Republic directly attacked the American military amid tensions over Tehran’s unraveling nuclear deal with world powers. Iran said it has used its air defense system known as Third of Khordad to shoot down the drone — a truck-based missile system that can fire up to 18 miles (30 kilometers) into the sky. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

WASHINGTON, June 23, (AP): US military cyber forces launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems on Thursday as President Donald Trump backed away from plans for a more conventional military strike in response to Iran’s downing of a US surveillance drone, US officials said Saturday.

Two officials told The Associated Press that the strikes were conducted with approval from Trump. A third official confirmed the broad outlines of the strike. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the operation. The cyberattacks – a contingency plan developed over weeks amid escalating tensions – disabled Iranian computer systems that controlled its rocket and missile launchers, the officials said.

Two of the officials said the attacks, which specifically targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps computer system, were provided as options after Iranian forces blew up two oil tankers earlier this month. The IRGC, which was designated a foreign terrorist group by the Trump administration earlier this year, is a branch of the Iranian military.

The action by US Cyber Command was a demonstration of the US’ increasingly mature cyber military capabilities and its more aggressive cyber strategy under the Trump administration. Over the last year US officials have focused on persistently engaging with adversaries in cyberspace and undertaking more offensive operations. There was no immediate reaction Sunday morning in Iran to the US claims.

Iran has hardened and disconnected much of its infrastructure from the internet after the Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to be a joint US-Israeli creation, disrupted thousands of Iranian centrifuges in the late 2000s. Tensions have escalated between the two countries ever since the US withdrew last year from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and began a policy of “maximum pressure.” Iran has since been hit by multiple rounds of sanctions. Tensions spiked this past week after Iran shot down an unmanned US drone – an incident that nearly led to a US military strike against Iran on Thursday evening.

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