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Petrol station in Tehran: fuel only for a surcharge
Photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP
Iran has declared an IT security incident to be the cause of nationwide problems with gasoline supplies.
"The Supreme National Security Council has confirmed a cyber attack on the computer system for gasoline distribution," reported the Iranian state television.
Work is already in progress to fix the problem.
The gasoline supply at many gas stations in the country was severely affected on Tuesday.
Specifically, it was reportedly no longer possible to use a subsidy card when refueling - the associated payment system was apparently paralyzed.
The result: Anyone who wanted to refuel anyway had to spend more money; the fuel is twice as expensive without the subsidy card.
Before referring to a cyber attack, state television initially referred to "disruptions in the computer system".
The state media showed pictures of closed gas stations and of increasingly long lines of vehicles.
A spokesman for the National Society for the Distribution of Fuel Products told state television that an emergency meeting would be held on the situation.
Speculation about a cyber attack by Israel on the payment system's software was circulating on social media on Tuesday.
Israel had repeatedly been held responsible for cyber attacks on the Iranian nuclear organization's network in recent years, which caused considerable financial damage.
mbö / AFP / dpa
