Iran denies being hit by cyberattack

US top diplomat sets out to build global coalition against Teheran

TEHERAN/WASHINGTON - Iran said on Monday that no cyberattack against the Islamic republic has ever succeeded, after media reported the United States launched one last week amid a standoff between the two countries as Washington was due to tighten sanctions on Teheran.

"The media are asking about the veracity of the alleged cyberattack against Iran. No successful attack has been carried out by them, although they are making a lot of effort," Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azarari Jahromi said on Twitter without referring to any US attack.

"Last year we neutralized 33 million attacks with the (national) firewall."

US media on Saturday said Washington launched cyberattacks against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network this week after Teheran downed an unmanned US surveillance drone.

The Washington Post reported that after the downing, US President Donald Trump authorized US Cyber Command to carry out a retaliatory cyberattack on Iran.

The attack crippled computers used to control rocket and missile launches but caused no casualties, according to the Post, which cited people familiar with the matter.

"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!"

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he wants to build a global coalition against Iran during urgent consultations in the Middle East.

Pompeo made the remarks as he left Washington for Saudi Arabia amid heightened tensions Iran. He arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday. The visit was not announced until immediately before his departure in a sign of fast-moving and unpredictable developments.

"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, a coalition not only throughout the Gulf states, but in Asia and in Europe..." he said.

But even as Pompeo delivered his tough talk, he echoed Trump and US Vice-President Mike Pence in saying the Washington is prepared to negotiate with Teheran, without preconditions, in a bid to ease tensions. Those tensions have been mounting since Trump last year withdrew the US from a global nuclear deal with Iran and began pressuring Teheran with economic sanctions. A fresh round of Iran sanctions is to be announced on Monday in a bid to force the Iranian leadership into talks.

"They know precisely how to find us," Pompeo said.

Topsy-turvy

It was a week of topsy-turvy pronouncements on US policy toward Iran that careened between the bellicose, the conciliatory and back again after Iran shot down an unmanned US drone and boasted it would not bow to Washington's pressure.

Trump initially said Iran had made a "very big mistake" and that it was "hard to believe" that shooting down the drone on Thursday was not intentional. He later said he thought it was an unintentional act carried out by a "loose and stupid" Iranian and called off retaliatory military strikes against Iran. On Saturday, Trump reversed himself and claimed that Iran had acted "knowingly".

But Trump also said over the weekend that he appreciated Iran's decision to not shoot down a manned US spy plane, and said he hoped the US eventually could become Iran's "best friend" if Teheran ultimately agrees to abandon its drive to build nuclear weapons and he helps the country turn around its crippled economy.

Then Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, stepped in on Sunday with a blunt warning from Jerusalem, where he was traveling. Bolton said Iran should not "mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness" after Trump called off the military strike. Trump said he backed away from the planned strikes after learning that about 150 people would be killed, but he said the military option remained.

A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton emphasized that the US reserved the right to attack at a later point.

On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the US "interventionist military presence" for fanning the flames in a statement from the official IRNA news agency.

Afp - Ap - Reuters

(China Daily 06/25/2019 page11)