Eighty percent of Iranian gas stations back in service after cyberattack: official

TEHRAN — Eighty percent of Iran’s gas stations were pumping fuel again on Wednesday morning after a major cyberattack caused widespread disruption on Tuesday, an Iranian official said.

By now, 3,000 gas stations in the country have been linked to the Iranian distribution network and are filling tanks at the standard price, Fatemeh Kahi, the spokesperson for the National Iranian Oil Product Distribution Company (NIOPDC), was quoted by the official news agency IRNA as saying.

Distribution of half-price rationed gasoline through individual smart cards is being relaunched at a slower pace, and there are currently 220 stations providing that service across Iran, Kahi said.

Due to the dispersion of fuel stations across the country and the need for the presence of a technician in each one of them to solve the problem, the reactivation of the special price distribution “will be time-consuming,” the NIOPDC spokeswoman added.

A major cyberattack occurred on Tuesday and caused long queues at gas stations across the country.

Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace Secretary Abolhassan Firouzabadi has said the cyberattack was probably carried out by “a foreign country” with the aim of disrupting Iran’s public services.

According to Iranian news network Press TV, the country has been using an online system to ration subsidized fuel since November 2019, when the government ordered a series of price hikes for gasoline and diesel.

Under the system, motorists are entitled to 60 liters of gasoline per month at a lower price.