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 By Amir Havasi Tehran (AFP) June 24, 2019
Iran denied Monday it was hit by a US cyber attack as Washington was due to tighten sanctions on Tehran in a standoff sparked by the US withdrawal from a nuclear deal. Both nations say they want to avoid going to war, but tensions have spiralled as a series of incidents, including tanker attacks and the shooting down of a US drone by Iran in the Gulf, raised fears of an unintended slide towards conflict. The denial came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks on the tensions with Iran and was also due to visit the United Arab Emirates for similar discussions. US President Donald Trump called off a planned retaliatory military strike Friday after Iran said it had shot down an American surveillance drone the previous day near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Tehran says the drone violated Iranian airspace and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has backed the claim with maps and coordinates -- allegations dismissed by Washington. US media reports said Trump ordered a retaliatory cyber attack against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network after the drone was shot down. But on Monday Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said no cyber attack against his country had ever succeeded. "The media are asking about the veracity of the alleged cyber attack against Iran. No successful attack has been carried out by them, although they are making a lot of effort," he said on Twitter. He acknowledged that Iran has "been facing cyber terrorism -- such as Stuxnet -- and unilateralism -- such as sanctions", naming a virus believed to have been engineered by Israel and the US to damage nuclear facilities in Iran. "We foiled last year not one attack but 33 million attacks with Dejpha shield," Azari Jahromi said, referring to a new internet defence system. Iran last week warned that any US attack would see Washington's interests in the Middle East go up in flames. - Pompeo visits Gulf allies - Speaking to reporters as he left Washington, Pompeo called Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates "two great allies in the challenge that Iran presents". "We'll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition," he said. He reiterated Trump's offer of dialogue to improve relations with Iran, which the US administration has sought to isolate through harsh sanctions. "We're prepared to negotiate with no preconditions. They know precisely how to find us," he said. Pompeo also dismissed as "child-like" a map released Sunday by the Iranian foreign minister that purported to show a spy drone encroaching the Islamic republic's airspace in late May. Trump, who spent Saturday huddling with his advisers, said he was ready to reach out to Iran if the country agreed to renounce nuclear weapons. "When they agree to that, they're going to have a wealthy country. They're going to be so happy, and I'm going to be their best friend," he told reporters. - US to tighten sanctions - Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and says its programme is for civilian purposes. With the US out of the deal, Iran has said it would reduce some of its nuclear commitments unless the remaining partners -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- help it circumvent US sanctions and sell its oil. The landmark 2015 nuclear accord sought to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump left that agreement more than a year ago and has imposed a robust slate of punitive economic sanctions designed to choke off Iranian oil sales and cripple its economy -- which he now plans to expand. "We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday," tweeted Trump, who has also deployed additional troops to the Middle East. "I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again - The sooner the better!" The downing of the US drone came after a series of attacks on tankers in the congested shipping lanes of the Gulf, which Washington has blamed on Tehran. Meanwhile, the Riyadh-led military coalition in Yemen said Iran-aligned Huthi rebels had attacked a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia, killing one civilian and wounding 21 others. Riyadh has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to the Huthis, who have launched cross-border attacks on facilities inside Saudi Arabia. Iran has denied attacking tankers or supplying the Huthis.
US conducted cyber attack on Iran in response to drone downing: report US president Donald Trump secretly authorized US Cyber Command to carry out a retaliatory attack on Iran, The Washington Post reported Saturday, shortly after the US president pledged to hit the Islamic republic with major new sanctions. The attack crippled computers used to control rocket and missile launches, according to the Post, while Yahoo News said a spying group responsible for tracking ships in the Gulf was also targeted. Tehran is yet to react to the reports, Iran's Fars news agency said Sunday. It added that it was "still not clear whether the attacks were effective or not," and suggested the US media reports were a "bluff meant to affect public opinion and regain lost reputation for the White House" following the downing of its drone. Trump called off a planned retaliatory military strike Friday, saying the response wouldn't be "proportionate", with Tehran warning Washington that any attack would see its interests across the Middle East go up in flames. On Sunday US National Security Advisor John Bolton warned Tehran against misinterpreting the last-minute cancellation. "Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness," he said ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. The downing of the US drone came after a series of attacks on tankers in the congested shipping lanes of the Gulf, that Washington has blamed on Iran, exacerbated already-tense relations between the two countries. Iran has denied responsibility for those attacks. Trump, who spent Saturday huddling with his advisors at Camp David, initially told reporters that he was keen to be Iran's "best friend" -- if the country agreed to renounce nuclear weapons. "When they agree to that, they're going to have a wealthy country. They're going to be so happy, and I'm going to be their best friend," he told reporters. Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and says its program is for civilian purposes. A multinational accord reached by Tehran and world powers in 2015 sought to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. But Trump left that agreement more than a year ago and has imposed a robust slate of punitive economic sanctions designed to choke off Iranian oil sales and cripple its economy -- one he now plans to expand. "We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday," tweeted Trump, who has also deployed additional troops to the Middle East. "I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again - The sooner the better!" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added: "When the Iranian regime decides to forgo violence and meet our diplomacy with diplomacy, it knows how to reach us. Until then, our diplomatic isolation and economic pressure campaign against the regime will intensify." But lest anyone think he was entirely ruling out military action, Trump tweeted Saturday evening that "I never called the strike against Iran 'BACK,' as people are incorrectly reporting, I just stopped it from going forward at this time!" - 'Powder keg' - A top Iranian military official warned Washington against any strikes. "Firing one bullet towards Iran will set fire to the interests of America and its allies" in the region, armed forces general staff spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told the Tasnim news agency. "If the enemy -- especially America and its allies in the region -- make the military mistake of shooting the powder keg on which America's interests lie, the region will be set on fire," Shekarchi warned. Following his comments, Iran said it had executed a contractor for the defense ministry's aerospace organization who had been convicted of spying for the United States. After the downing Thursday of the Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, Trump said the United States had been "cocked & loaded" to strike Iran. Tehran insists that the drone violated its airspace -- something Washington denies -- but a commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told state news agency IRNA that the violation could have been an accident. "Nonetheless, this was an act of trampling international aviation laws by a spy aircraft," Hajizadeh added. The Pentagon released a map of the drone's flight path, indicating it avoided Iranian waters, but Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday published maps showing the aircraft inside Iranian territory. "There can be no doubt about where the vessel was when it was brought down," he wrote on Twitter. The US Federal Aviation Administration has barred American civilian aircraft from the area "until further notice," and several major non-US airlines were altering flight paths to avoid the sensitive Strait of Hormuz.
Surveillance-savvy Hong Kong protesters go digitally dark Hong Kong (AFP) June 13, 2019 Hong Kong's tech-savvy protesters are going digitally dark as they try to avoid surveillance and potential future prosecutions, disabling location tracking on their phones, buying train tickets with cash and purging their social media conversations. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up crowds opposed to a China extradition law on Wednesday, in the worst unrest the city has witnessed in decades. Many of those on the streets are predominantly young and have grown up in a digital wor ... read more
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