The Head of Iran's Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali confirmed that the recent cyberattack on the Iranian fuel delivery system was carried out by a foreign country, the US, and the Zionist entity.

In an interview with the Iranian television on Saturday, Jalali reviewed the missions of the Civil Defense Organization in the country amid the recent cyberattack that disrupted the fuel delivery system. He also discussed ways to reduce vulnerabilities to cyberattacks, as well as the latest measures to provide security for the cyberinfrastructure.

"We have analyzed two incidents, the railway accident, and the Shahid Rajaei port accident, and we found that they were similar," said Jalali.

In July, Iran's transportation ministry said a cyber disruption had affected its computer systems and website, according to Fars news agency.

Furthermore, in May last year, the Washington Post reported that "Israel" carried out a cyberattack on the Iranian port of Shahid Rajaei in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic route for global oil shipments.

Jalali mentioned that it is possible that there are internal elements linked to this cyberattack and security services are investigating the issue.

He also revealed that 30% of the fuel stations resumed their offline work in the first three hours of the attack and 60% resumed their work after 12 hours.

The Head of the Civil Defense Organization revealed that the recent cyberattack was very complex, and combating it was also difficult.

"Serious infrastructural cyber warfare has started. We should take it seriously and rectify our areas of weakness," he warned.

He pointed out that Iran has taken cyberwars seriously, stating that the Organization conducted 1,400 maneuvers to detect weaknesses in the country's IT systems during the past year, and 66 maneuvers so far this year. Jalali mentioned that the US established 123 cyberattack units in 2016.

In the same context, Iran's Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace Abul-Hassan Firouzabadi announced that a cyberattack carried out by a foreign country targeted Iran's fuel distribution network to disrupt services. 

Following this attack, most fuel stations in Iran stopped working due to a technical defect in the computer system for fuel distribution.

Iranians are used to an IT system that allows them to fill their tanks for free or at subsidized prices with a digital card issued by authorities. 

Later, the National Fuel Distribution Company announced that about 50% of the stations have resumed work.

The Israeli occupation considered that the cyberattack against Iran fits with the updated perception of the Israeli security institutions.

Israeli commentators indicated that the attack might be an Israeli response to Iranian cyberattacks, or it might be a response to Iran's recent activity in the region.