Cyber-attack cuts fuel supply in Iran, Oil Minister says

Iran claimed to have suffered a cyber attack by Israel and the United States that disrupted fuel distribution at 60% of gas stations on Monday. 

"Some gas stations across the country suffered a cyber attack and fuel distribution was interrupted," Oil Minister Javad Owji told state television. 

Owji blamed the attack on foreign powers, saying that as "the Zionist enemy (Israel) and the US suffered blows on other fronts, they sought to create trouble".

Deputy Oil Minister Jalil Salari earlier said there were problems with the cards Iranians use to buy subsidised petrol. 

Iran, a major oil producer, has one of the cheapest petrol prices in the world, with a card that allows Iranians to buy up to 60 litres a month at a subsidised price of 15,000 rials (about 3 US cents) per litre. 

Following the system failure, gas stations "switched off the online system", Salari said. The disruption caused long queues at some gas stations in Tehran and the closure of others, according to an AFP correspondent. 

President Ebrahim Raisi called for an investigation and urged "immediate measures" to resolve the crisis. 

The authorities formed a "crisis committee" and Salari said he expected the system to be fixed within hours. 

In October 2021, Iran suffered a similar week-long outage for which the authorities blamed external actors. 

The government has accused Israel of a wave of sabotage attacks and assassinations against its nuclear programme, while the US and Israel accuse Iran of orchestrating attacks against allied forces and ships in the region.