While President Donald Trump continues to threaten Iran and force it to accept a peace treaty, the Islamic Republic has reportedly targeted thousands of US military personnel and officials deployed in the Middle East in a cyberattack and released their personal details, including names and home addresses.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, this was done by Iranian cyber group called ‘Handala’, which is also called ‘Hanzala’. On Telegram, the group has also claimed that the personal details of around 2,379 US servicemen were leaked, which it said is an evidence of the group’s “surveillance capabilities”.ย
Notably, this was the same group which had hacked the personal email of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel last month. “To the whole world, we declare: the FBI is just a name, and behind this name, there is no real security,” the group had said in its message on its website back then.
The Pentagon has now launched an investigation, as the incident has triggered an alarm among the US military and the group’s capability of hacking American systems repeatedly can’t be ignored. Officials are focusing on how the group hacked into the US systems and the data was compromised.
Soaring US-Iran tensions
The incident has happened as the US continues to impose a blockade of all Iranian ports as a bid to force the Islamic Republic to accept the peace treaty. Earlier, Tehran sent a proposal but the US completely rejected it, saying there will be no compromise on a nuclear deal.
The US has maintained that Iran needs to give up its nuclear programme, with Trump stressing that the Islamic Republic cannot have nukes. He also backed the naval blockade, saying the Iranians are now “chocking like a stuffed pig”. “The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing,” he told in an interview on Wednesday.
A report by Axios also claimed that the US has not ruled out a military option and is preparing for a “short and powerful” strikes on Iran. The Middle East nation has warned the US against any strikes and said American attacks will be given an “unprecedented” response.ย
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