As Israel ramps up strikes, Iran bans officials from using public internet: Report

As Israel has ramped up its campaign, Iran has banned its officials from using public internet networks, according to Iranian media.

It appears that Iranian authorities are concerned that Iran could mount a cyber campaign by compromising phones of officials.

Iranian media reported on Tuesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) cybersecurity command banned officials and their teams from using unsecure public internet networks.

Separately, a cyberattack hit Iran’s Sepah bank earlier in the day that caused disruption to its online services, according to Iranian media.

Last year, Israel had simultaneously remotely detonated thousands of pagers and walkie talkies used by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The attacks not just killed and injured several people but also paralysed the cadres psychologically and hampered communication within the group. It appears that Iranian authorities are concerned that Israel could attempt similar in the ongoing war.

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Israel on Tuesday —the fifth day of the war— claimed to have killed the deputy military chief Ali Shademani, who had taken over last week after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Gholam Ali Rashid, in the first round of strikes on Friday. Israel has taken out nearly the entire Iranian military leadership , including military chief Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC chief Hossein Salami, IRGC’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani and several top nuclear scientists.

Even as Israel has continued to bomb Iran, there are signs that a negotiated settlement could be in the offing . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, however, dismissed talks and said negotiations are just a tool for Iran to buy time. Even as reports said that the Iranian and US governments are engaged in backchannel dialogue, there are also signs that the United States could be preparing to join the Israeli war on Iran.

At scale unprecedented in recent past, the US Air Force on Sunday moved over 30 refuelling tankers to Europe to support potential operations in West Asia. The White House has also posted a long thread on X about Trump stating over the years repeatedly that Iran would never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. Analysts have said that the movement of tankers was to make way for any military operation and the thread on X was part of efforts to build a pretext for such action.