Iran condemns US charges against three citizens over cyber attacks

Iran on Thursday strongly condemned what it called false accusations levelled by the United States against three of its citizens for alleged cyber attacks in the US and other countries.

The US justice department unveiled the indictments on Wednesday accusing the trio of exploiting computer vulnerabilities to extort "hundreds" of victims, including inside Britain, Australia, Iran, Russia and the United States.

In a statement on Thursday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani "strongly condemned" the US measures against "citizens and companies on the false accusation of being involved in cyber attacks".

"Resorting to launching a propaganda campaign... against Iran is part of the failed Iranophobic policy of the American government, which of course will not lead anywhere," Kanani said.

"The US, which has previously remained silent against numerous cyber attacks against Iran... and has even directly or indirectly supported these attacks, lacks the jurisdiction to accuse others."

The Islamic republic has also been targeted by cyber attacks, most notably in 2010 when the "Stuxnet" virus - believed to have been engineered by Israel and the US - infected its nuclear programme.

On Wednesday, the US justice department said a shelter for victims of domestic violence and a children's hospital were among those targeted by the three accused between October 2020 and August 2022.

It identified the three accused as Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi Aghda, and Amir Hossein Nikaeen Ravari.

The US treasury also announced sanctions against the trio, saying they were linked to Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The US state department offered a $10 million reward for information on them.