Iran-linked hackers targeted a water facility in the rural area of County Mayo in Ireland, leaving the residents without water for two days earlier this month, Recorded Future News reported.
“The attack saw outages for approximately 160 households over two days, and was as a result of the exploitation of a vulnerability in a particular type of programmable logic controller,” said a spokesperson for Ireland’s Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC).
The attack was carried out by pro-Iran Cyber Av3ngers group which wrote a message on the infected computer system and claimed that the facility was targeted because it used Unitronics Vision Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs), an Israeli-made piece of equipment.
According to the report, the Irish government has notified other Unitronics owners all over the country in an attempt to avert possible future attacks.
“This exploitation was carried out on a global basis, and there is no suggestion that services in Ireland were specifically targeted,” DECC spokesperson went on to say.
Earlier in December, US and Israeli cybersecurity officials warned that IRGC-affiliated Cyber Av3ngers has launched a malicious campaign to target Israeli-made PLCs.
Earlier in November, Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center reported that the Islamic Republic has intensified its cyberattacks and influence operations since 2020, targeting Israel and Bahrain, for instance.
Iran, Russia, and China are likely to plan to influence the upcoming elections in the United States and other countries in 2024, Microsoft added.
In July, Claudia Plattner, the head of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), warned of a growing threat from Iranian, Russian and Chinese cyber-attacks. “The goals are espionage, destabilization and influence,” Plattner said.
The region has no room for any more power struggles, Ashtiani said, further stressing that in case Washington’s decision is executed, it will face “extraordinary problems.”
Amid attacks by Iran-backed Houthis on commercial shipping off the coast of Yemen, he referred to the Red Sea as “our region” and warned that “nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance.”
While adopting a defiant and threatening tone, Iran’s defense minister did not specify the moves Tehran is ready to make if the idea of a multinational naval force is implemented.
His remarks came three days after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced that Washington is considering to beef up measures to protect shipping in the Red Sea where Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis have been targeting vessels over the past weeks.
“We are in talks with other countries about a maritime task force of sorts involving the ships from partner nations alongside the United States in ensuring safe passage,” he pointed out.
Sullivan called this plan Washington’s “natural response” to the ongoing situation in the Red Sea. Active negotiations are being held with US allies about escorting ships in the region but nothing has been finalized yet, he went on to say.
According to reports, 12 countries may join the US-led naval coalition.
On Wednesday, Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a Houthi official, said his group possesses “formidable leverage” against countries that participate in a naval coalition in the Red Sea.
Though the Islamic Republic has avoided any direct military involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict, the regime has used its allies such as Houthis and militant groups in Iraq and Syria to attack Israel and American targets in the region.
Houthis have intensified their attacks since the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas collapsed on November 1.
On Wednesday, Yemeni Houthis fired two missiles that missed a tanker carrying jet fuel and headed to the Suez Canal.
A US Navy warship also shot down a suspected Houthi drone flying in its direction during the same incident, a US official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Houthis further attacked the Norwegian commercial tanker STRINDA with a rocket on Tuesday.
Back in November, Iran’s proxy group also seized a cargo ship called “Galaxy Leader” in the southern Red Sea as it was sailing from Turkey to India.
Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sareea vowed that the group would continue blocking ships heading to Israeli ports until Israel allows the entry of food and medical aid into the Gaza Strip - more than 1,000 miles from the Houthi seat of power in Sanaa.
US National Security spokesman John Kirby took Iran to task last week for destabilizing the region by providing financial and military assistance to extremist militant groups, such as Yemeni Houthis.
“We know that the Houthis are supported by Iran, not just politically and philosophically but, of course, with weapon systems,” he stressed.
On December 7, the US Department of Treasury slapped sanctions against 13 individuals and entities over their role in financing Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Supported by the IRGC extraterritorial Quds force, the financing system operated through “a complex network of exchange houses and companies in multiple jurisdictions,” the Department of Treasury announced in a statement.
Despite the recent sanctions, the Biden administration is receiving more and more criticism over its failure to deter Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.
Earlier in the week, Israeli National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has talked with the leaders of US, Britain, Germany, and France to discuss the increasing threats posed by Yemeni Houthis against Israel-bound ships.
“Israel is giving the world time to organize and prevent it … If there is no international organization - because this is a global problem - we’ll work to remove the maritime closure,” he said in reference to Houthi’s offensives.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Washington has urged Israel not to respond directly to drone and missile attacks by Tehran-backed Yemeni Houthis.
The bill, submitted by President Ebrahim Raisi's administration last week was rejected as 127 lawmakers out of the 236 present voted against it on Tuesday, pointing out several fundamental issues including a huge deficit.
This is the first year that the government is mandated to present its budget bill in two parts: One for the expected revenues and the other detailing spendings. The government now has a seven-day window to implement revisions in the first section of the budget bill before re-submitting it for parliamentary consideration.
Lawmaker Ahmad Rastineh argued that the parliament rejected the bill due to a misinterpretation of the new regulation, suggesting that MPs were looking for data that is supposed to be submitted in the second part. “We voted on the first part of the bill, which is on the revenues. The expenditure section will be presented to the parliament after the approval of the first part and the determination on the budget's revenue ceiling.”
The main problem with the bill was the unrealistic figures that the government had projected for its revenues. Despite repeated claims by the administration about its “realistic” numbers, opponents of the bill found discrepancies in several parts of the document. The parliament’s budget committee issued a report earlier in the week, pointing out 13 problems with the bill. However, it finally cleared it for a vote in a full session, which ended poorly for the bill.
Despite the government’s claim that its budget is balanced, there are several estimates for the deficit, with Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture putting it at about 4.5 quadrillion rials or about $9 billion, even the government's over-optimistic projections. Economic website EcoIran cited a report by the parliament’s research center as saying that “the real budget deficit” will be about $22 billion.
In previous years the real deficit has been close to half of the budget. Apparently, the administration’s assessment is that in the next Iranian year (which starts on March 21), it will sell 1,350,000 barrels of oil per day at a price of €65 per barrel. This means around $32 billion annually. However, Iran is selling its oil at much lower prices due to US sanctions, at about $40 to $45 per barrel, which comes out about $22 billion per year.
The exchange rate of the Euro to the rial is considered to be 310,000 rials in the bill. Accordingly, oil and gas revenue for the next year will reach 582.7 trillion tomans (5.8 quadrillion rials or $11.6 billion), which is a 3.5% decrease compared to the current year's budget law. Additionally, tax revenues have increased from 7.4 quadrillion rials in the current year's budget law to 11.2 quadrillion rials (about $2.4 billion) in the next year’s budget.
Iran is offering substantial price reductions to its principal oil customer, China, with details kept secret. Iran has been supplying its oil to Chinese independent and small refineries, known as teapots, with payment delays extending up to three months. Reports from Reuters and Bloomberg indicate that Chinese teapots are securing Iranian oil at a discounted rate, with savings amounting to at least $10-12 per barrel. Iran's approach extends beyond offering price discounts to final oil purchasers; it involves allocating undisclosed portions of its profits to intermediaries and tanker companies involved in these diversionary oil export operations. As a result, the actual revenue realized by Iran may be closer to $40 per barrel, a substantial difference from the international price of about $70.
A point that was highlighted by Iran’s media as the final blow for the rejection of the bill was a lack of fund allocation for a long overdue rise in pensioners’ salaries. Proponents of the bill said that the government had earmarked about $1 billion for the adjustment. In recent years, retirees have held regular protest rallies to demand pension increases in par with rising prices of essential foods. They say the current payments are not in line with decrees by the Supreme Labor Council, which had stipulated a 38-percent increase in the minimum wage.
Another issue with Raisi’s budget was the estimated revenues from tax rises. According to lawmaker Mohammad Bagheri, the most significant increase in budget resources is attributed to tax and customs revenues, showing a 40% growth, while the budget's dependency on oil revenues has decreased by 24 percent. He said unions and producers are already under economic pressure and the rise in taxes will further strain businesses. Last month, Entekhab news website in Tehran reported that according to the budget bill, even monthly incomes of 100 to 140 million rials ($200 to $280) will be subject to a 10 percent tax.
Hossein-Ali Haji-Deligani, another lawmaker, said that considering the inflation rate in the country, the new budget bill remains practically the same as the current one. Last year, the parliament approved the outlines of the budget bill without considering its unrealistic assumptions.
Deligani said during the Tuesday session that “we will not have any budget increase next year, and this lack of budget increase will lead to the halt of the country's economic growth.” He added that “Increasing taxes will lead to a halt in production, resulting in reduced wages, unemployment, and hardships.”
The government claims that the growth rate will be 8 percent next year, but no one takes it seriously. In January, the World Bank projected Iran to have a 1.9-percent GDP growth, but the figure, even if true, comes on the back of economic retrenchment since 2019.
All in all, the rejection of the bill is more of a political gesture by lawmakers before the March parliamentary elections. There is no possibility for the government to balance the budget. Abbas Abdi, a reformist commentator, suggested that “The outlines of the budget bill were rejected in the open session to convey to the government that the parliament has a say.”