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THE UNITED STATES launched cyber attacks against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network after Tehran downed an American surveillance drone, according to US media.
The Washington Post newspaper reports that president Donald Trump secretly authorised US Cyber Command to carry out a retaliatory attack on Iran, shortly after the US president pledged to hit the Islamic republic with major new sanctions.
The attack crippled computers used to control rocket and missile launches, according to the Post, while Yahoo News said a spying group responsible for tracking ships in the Gulf was also targeted.
Tehran is yet to react to the reports, Iran’s Fars news agency said today.
It added that it was “still not clear whether the attacks were effective or not,” and suggested the US media reports were a “bluff meant to affect public opinion and regain lost reputation for the White House” following the downing of its drone.
Trump called off a planned retaliatory military strike on Friday, saying the response wouldn’t be “proportionate”, with Tehran warning Washington that any attack would see its interests across the Middle East go up in flames.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton yesterday warned Tehran against misinterpreting the last-minute cancellation.
“Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness,” he said ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
The downing of the US drone came after a series of attacks on oil tankers in the congested shipping lanes of the Gulf, that Washington has blamed on Iran, exacerbated already-tense relations between the two countries.
Iran has denied responsibility for those attacks.
‘Their best friend’
Trump, who spent Saturday with his advisors at Camp David, initially told reporters that he was keen to be Iran’s “best friend” but only if the country agreed to renounce nuclear weapons.
“When they agree to that, they’re going to have a wealthy country. They’re going to be so happy, and I’m going to be their best friend,” he told reporters.
Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and says its program is for civilian purposes.
A multinational accord reached by Tehran and world powers in 2015 sought to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.
But Trump left that agreement more than a year ago and has imposed a robust slate of punitive economic sanctions designed to choke off Iranian oil sales and cripple its economy – one he now plans to expand.
“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!”
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has called for negotiations to defuse tensions between the US and Iran.
“Tensions in the Gulf can only be addressed politically,” Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter.
He said the crisis in the Gulf region “requires collective attention, primarily to de-escalate and to find political solutions through dialogue and negotiations.”
“Regional voices (are) important to achieve sustainable solutions,” said Gargash.
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Trumps major plus and his only redeeming feature, is that he has yet to start a war. As long as this state of affairs continues, he is head and shoulders above the last countless number of American presidents. Unfortunately this is a reflection on how bad they were , not how good trump is .
@Michael Curran: Trump has increased the frequency of drone strikes in Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan by 423% since taking over from Obama, he’s a war-monger like all the others.
@Michael Curran: You seem to believe that war is always the wrong choice . Sometimes going to war is the correct thing to do and the consequences of not going to war or taking military action can result in a greater loss of life .
@Michael Curran: Remember he is the one that ripped up an international agreement, hence the current tension. So the blame lies with the current US administration for the creation of the crisis. Do you always skip over the context?
@Michael Curran: They can’t afford another war and it would put a dent (how big, who knows) in the economy and destabilise the ME massively. Its Israel calling the shots here. Bizarre you actually give trump credit for anything.
@Michael Curran: Dont kid yourself. If it gets him votes or makes money for his billionaire buddies….he’ll do it.
@Michael Curran: Don’t worry. It’s coming. He’s not softening up the missile defences for no reason. Marching the troops up the hill and marching them down again, so as not to annihilate 150 poor Iranians for breaking his toy, is a PR masterclass in how to secure your next term in office. What a gent.
@Michael Curran: I live in New York in the real world and this funky gibbon aka Brokeahantusis a disgrace to not only the USA but the human race
@John Smith: Syria????????
@Anthony Doyle: Rwanda .
@Anthony Doyle: if you live in NY you defo don’t life in the real world, NY is just another smoke screen it’s a kip
I read somewhere that this retaliatory cyber attack was “weeks in the planning”. Suspicious, considering the tanker attacks happend only a few days ago.
@Paraic: I’d imagine it was years in the planning. The Iranians have previously hacked and taken control of a US drone, crash landing it. Counter measures take time. Iran will rely on assymmetric warfare if it comes to it. Their cyber teams are planning just as hard as the US.
@Clifford Brennan: No they specifically says weeks. And apparently from an official source. Beyond suspicious.
@Paraic: The first 4 tankers were damaged in a explosions on May 10th in the port of Fujairah UAE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2019_Gulf_of_Oman_incident
@Clifford Brennan: The Stuxnet virus was used by the US to attack the Iranian nuclear enrichment program, originally developed by the US and Israel around 2005 and was used for about 5 years to attack Iran’s nuclear program until it was discovered by the Russian antivirus company Kaspersky in 2010.
@David Jordan: Keep being a sheep if you want. The statement made was that the cyber attack was weeks in the planning and was an alternative to killing 150 poor Iranians in retaliation for the recent tanker attacks (including Norwegian and Japanese) and the downing of a target designating drone (MQ-4) / attempted downing of an attack drone (MQ-9), which happend this week and were just innocently just flying around the vicinity of the tankers in question. Why bother disabling missile defenses? Can’t you see that this is just paving the way for the next stage? Read between the lines a little.
@Paraic: Gulf News. A publication based in Dubai. Hardly the most impartial news outlet.
@Paraic:
Since the original tanker attacks happened several weeks ago, it’s hardly a massive surprise that the yanks started working on a potential response several weeks ago is it?
@The Great Unwashed: Why, yes, yes it is a surprise. Because the situation didn’t fully escalate until this week. So, it’s surprising that several weeks ago, US cyber command predicted the future mysterious attack on 2 tankers by an invisible hand band, the shooting down of a drone that’s used to laser mark targets for laser guided munitions, with a wingspan greater than a that of a 737.
@Paraic: no, thsts just silly. Of course they had started planning potential attacks as soon as the first incident occurred, anything else would be wholly incompetent.
@Seamus Murphy: Sorry about that. Will the BBC be OK?
https://gulfnews.com/world/us-carries-out-cyber-attacks-on-iran-in-response-to-provocations-1.1561269118019
@Paraic:
What makes you think the response was being designed with just the latest incident in mind? That’s just silly.
@The Great Unwashed: Why believe everything that the US official propaganda machine has fed the press? That’s just silly.
@Dave O’Keeffe: I don’t actually believe that this cyber attack wasn’t planned weeks or months ago. I know well enough how long these things take. Even though the current state of the art is to use AI technology to reduce the time required to a few days or hours. I’m just pointing out that ducks were lined up and things are heading in a general direction. “We opted not to kill 150 people poor Iranians, instead we just picked the lock of the front door in preparation for a full frontal invasion, and we’d been planning it for weeks.”
@Paraic:
I don’t – that would be just silly. But your sense of logical thinking is seriously flawed, which is why you come up with nonsensical arguments like the one above.
@Paraic: contingency plans.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Of course it was pre-planned. But it would be naive to just take the PR narrative at face value. It’s the old twin choice psychology trick. Phew, thank you kind sir for picking the harmless cyber attack and not the 150 people being killed. (Why are they the only 2 options?). I don’t think it was a contingency plan though. I think it is all part of a bigger more well planned build up to something bigger. I believe the US is stirring something. We shall see.
@Dave O’Keeffe: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/06/22/national/surveillance-drone-may-tracked-japanese-tanker-attack-experts-say/
@Dave O’Keeffe: That was some feat of forward planning. Putting an unmanned fighter aircraft in the vicinity of a stricken tanker in response to an SOS call, before the vessel was stricken, or the call was made.
@Paraic:
You yourself believe what the ‘US propaganda machine’ tells you when it suits your argument, but disregard it when it doesn’t!
BTW I love how you’ve somehow morphed a surveillance drone into a “fighter aircraft”.
@The Great Unwashed: 1. I’ve posted non-western news sources where possible, unless objected to by others. I don’t believe the US propaganda machine. Where I’ve quoted it, it’s been to contrast discrepancies in the narrative between other accounts. CENCOM stated the Reaper was there in response to an SOS call. Eye witnesses on the tanker saw what could be a drone fly over them before their hull exploded.
2. Take a look at this:
https://www.alamy.com/a-fully-armed-mq-9-reaper-taxis-down-an-afghanistan-runway-nov-4-2007-u-s-air-force-photostaff-sgt-brian-ferguson-released-image282398105.html
Those aren’t cameras and radar on the wings. No, It’s an attack aircraft. Be a sheep if you want and believe that it was just there to keep an eye and help out.
@The Great Unwashed: Did you know that limpet mines are equipped with anti-handling devices that are designed to explode any person that tries to remove them? The video released showing around 12 blokes standing around on the bow of a boat in chop and as close as possible to to a guy who is removing one, seems laughable to me. But you can take it as gospel of you want. Did you see a mine in the video? I couldn’t really make it out. Did you ever get to see those WMDs Saddam was hiding?
https://www.revolvy.com/page/Anti%252Dhandling-device?smv=1795092
@Paraic:
A Reaper and a Global Hawk are two completely different machines! Do you think a cessna and a boeing 747 are the same thing because they both have two wings, a tail and wheels??
@Paraic:
No, that video isn’t clear enough to make out anything definitively. In other words, it’s not proof of anything either way.
@The Great Unwashed: You’re confused. Iranians fired at both an MQ-9 Reaper and an MQ-4 Global Hawk. They missed the Reaper but shot down the Global Hawk. The Reaper was en-route from the vicinity of the Front Altair to the Kokuka Courageous. Officially, is was responding to an SOS (US media). Other sources including crew, suggest it was there before any incident. The two aircraft form a two part system. MQ-4 = Command and control, Laser Target designation. MQ-9 = Laser guided munition equipped, attack aircraft. Why did Iran shoot at them? My guess is they were pi$$ed off about something.
@Paraic:
Now you’re just making stuff up again. Nobody (apart from you) has claimed that the crew saw a reaper drone or any other kind of drone before the attack. Apart from anything else you’re unlikely to even see one when it’s at 65,000 feet!
The owner of the Japanese ship said that his crew had seen a flying object, which has variously been translated as a ‘bullet’ or a ‘projectile’, not a reaper drone!
@The Great Unwashed: I think you’ll find that it’s you who’s still confused. Sources from both sides have confirmed that a Reaper UAV was targeted with a SAM missile but missed. It’s track took it across both the Norwegian and Japanese tankers. It is a strike aircraft with a service ceiling of 60,000 ft. I can assure you as a pilot myself that aircraft operate 100% of the time ANYWHERE below the service ceiling,(as low as 0ft).
You obviously glossed over my earlier post of this link:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/06/22/national/surveillance-drone-may-tracked-japanese-tanker-attack-experts-say/
@Paraic:
You’re a pilot??
What do you fly – DJI Mavic? :-D
@The Great Unwashed: Nice adhomonim argument. Good man! Anything to say about the Reaper we were discussing though?
@Paraic:
Anything to say about you making stuff up?
@The Great Unwashed: I’ve posted dozens of links to everything I’ve said already. Tell me what I’ve made up.
@The Great Unwashed: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2019/0624/1057123-us-iran-/
New story about escalating tensions (surprise, surprise) Note the mention of a REAPER drone and it’s capabilities. Have you taken your fingers out of your ears yet?
@The Great Unwashed: If you didn’t realise there was a Reaper involved, wait until you hear about the manned spy plane with 30-35 people that were bugging around with it. LOL.
@Paraic:
You made up that the crew reported seeing a reaper drone.
You made up that it was an official statement from ‘central command’ saying it was a Triton drone where it was actually an ‘unnamed source’ in a newspaper report.
@The Great Unwashed: 1. I never state that the crew identified the type of airborne object that they saw. I provided links to sources that implied that a Reaper drone crossed the path of the Japanese vessel and arrived earlier than officially reported, one stating that the crew witnessed something flying and the one above whereby Japan has stated that their experts feel that they could have witnessed a drone attack.
2. It was reported by both Reuters and ABC news that the shot down aircraft was reported by “Official sources” as being a MQ-4c Triton in contrast to Central Command who stated that it was an MQ-4a Global Hawk. The point was to show discrepancies in narrative. https://defence-blog.com/news/u-s-officials-confirms-iranian-missile-shoots-down-mq-4c-triton-drone.html/amp
@The Great Unwashed: Also, You’ve been arguing symantecs all week, and only just now, it’s become apparent that you weren’t reading anything, failed to appreciate that 2 distinct drones were involved and just argued blindly anyway. Did you even know that a 3rd aircraft, a P-8 spy plane with a crew of 30-38 people on board was accompanying the MQ-4? The Iranians spared them.
@Paraic:
1) From your own posts: (the crew) “witnessed flying missiles”
and
“Eye witnesses on the tanker saw what could be a drone fly over them before their hull exploded”
2) From your own posts: “Central command have again contradicted themselves by also saying that it was an MQ-4C Triton that was shot down. They can’t serm to get the lies straight”
and
“Why can’t Central command differentiate between the two”
and
“Central command’s twitter feed is not an unnamed source”
So you’re the one contradicting yourself on this – nice try spoofer.
The reaper incident has been widely reported since it happened and like most people on here I was well aware of it – you’re the one that was late to the party on that one pal.
Anyway I’m finished wasting my time going round in circles with you.
I think they missed, and hit my printer instead. :(
@Fachtna Roe: Me too, just had to reconfigure my Sonos speakers…very unusual!
Sitting back in his comfy surroundings where he is safe in the knowledge he himself won’t be at any front line.
Windows Vista appeared when the switched it on.
So a foreign power can fly drones over a sovereign nation and not expect retaliation. I wonder if Russia flew drones over American air space, I wonder what the reaction would be.
@Francis Sally: or any other country flying drone’s in US air space for that matter. Also while I hate the thought of nuclear weapons I don’t see why they should be only for a few. None at all in an ideal world. However the thought of the Trump in control of the button is no more comforting than Iran imo
If the Russians or Chinese did this the U.S. would be first to scream act of terrorism. Funny old world.
Like the movie documentary Zero days. What can really happen when these cyber attacks get out of hand.
Senator kensey SG1, that’s who Trump reminds me of..
@Dave Walsh: I had always thought the same
Iran reportedly shot down the U.S. drone on 20 June , 2019. Rival contentions between the US and Iran have surfaced between the two countries as regards whether the downing of the drone took place when the drone was in Iranian territory or in the international airspace of the Strait of Hormuz. Whatever the truth , the news reports say that US President Donald Trump withdrew the retaliatory strike action on Iran before it could be executed. That is obviously a step in the right direction because likelihood of a major military hostility , which could have even led to probably something world has been designating as WW3 , has been averted for the time being. Instead , it is learnt through news reports that military computers are being hacked by the US. News reports also said that Iran has begun to take hacking cyber action. Prices of crude oil may have strong probability of impacting overall market prices. Additional sanctions are reported to have been announced against Iran. In this context , it may be apt to refer readers to this Vedic astrology writer’s predictive article – “ World trends in April to August 2019” – brought to public domain widely in March and subsequently on 5 April 2019. The month of June in 2019 was in particular alert for more care and appropriate strategy against “ fires and blasts” in the Arabian region. It was also alerted like this :- “1. Economic and financial aspects may reflect major worrisome concerns. 2. Aviation sector , both military and civil , look to be worrisome. This may also cover cyber , space programs , internet and other forms of communication through space”. While the grave danger of military strike action has been averted for the time being , still this writer has astrological view that a period of about fortnight from 25 September to 9 October , more particularly 28 – 29 September in the present year 2019 may call for more care and restraint from the angle of war or ww3 ( where vulnerable ) or severe natural disasters like storms , tornadoes , cyclones , massive earthquakes , political turmoil and economic crisis in some of vulnerable countries of world. It may be known that a right human strategy has weight over planetary impacts.
Good
Was it a Windows update?
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