Over the past decade, Iran has developed offensive cyber capabilities that target water and power systems in the United States and Europe in an apparent attempt to inflict direct harm on civilians and critical infrastructure, bypassing any geographic or military restrictions, the National Interest magazine reported.
These attacks are not defensive reactions, but an integral part of the Iranian regime’s strategy to impose its will through sabotage and blackmail, exploiting its traditional weakness in direct confrontation.
Tehran is actively trying to cut off water supplies to the Gulf region and the United States, a behavior that constitutes a crime against civilians.
Washington responded by imposing tough sanctions as part of “Operation Economic Pariah,” which targeted up to 60 regime-linked entities, individuals and vessels, including members of Iran’s intelligence ministry, involved in widespread intrusions into American infrastructure and electronic theft operations.
The sanctions came after documented Iranian attacks on water and sewage systems in up to 12 US states that disrupted control and pressure systems, amid US warnings of an “urgent and ongoing” threat from Iran.
In the context of the ongoing conflict, Iran has stepped up both cyber and kinetic attacks to increase pressure on the United States and its allies.
Cyber attacks allow the Iranian regime to threaten US infrastructure beyond the range of its missiles, while it continues to target water treatment plants in the Gulf (Bahrain and Kuwait) since the start of the war.
Iran’s history is full of attacks
Iran’s history in this area is littered with attacks, including the Revolutionary Guard-linked breach of a dam in New York in 2013, attempts to manipulate chlorine levels in Israeli water bodies in 2020, and subsequent breaches of American water systems that led to new sanctions.
Iranian pirates also succeeded in knocking a British power plant out of commission for a day, setting a dangerous precedent.
Iran exploits the weakness of America’s legacy water systems (about 170,000 systems) and cyber security gaps to launch low-cost, high-impact attacks.
Amidst this ongoing aggression, the US Department of Justice has announced charges against 17 members of Iran’s Mabna Institute for allegedly stealing data from hundreds of universities, companies and government agencies, nearly half of which are in the United States, on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards and other regime-linked parties.
Current US actions, including allowing certified private companies to conduct counter-cyber operations against Iran-linked criminal organizations, are a necessary step to break the cycle of Iranian aggression and impose real costs on a regime that uses cyberterrorism as a primary weapon in an asymmetric war against the West and its allies.
