Iranian Government Websites' Reportedly Defaced With 'Death to Khameini' Caption

Earlier, Iranian airline Mahan Air became a victim of a cyberattack perpetrated by the "Hooshyarane Vatan" hacker group. It is unclear, however, if they were also responsible for the attack on the government websites.

Several Iranian government websites were defaced by an unknown hacker or hacker group, including the website of the Justice Ministry, Centre for Mosque Affairs and the Computer Research Centre of Islamic Sciences, the Jerusalem Post has reported. The defaced web pages were reportedly given "death to Khameini, greetings to Rajavi" captions, referring to Iran's supreme leader and the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) respectively. The latter is banned in the Islamic Republic for its openly stated goal of overthrowing the government in Tehran.

According to the Israeli media outlet, the websites were quickly taken down. Some of them are still unavailable. The Justice Ministry's web page namely notifies visitors that the site is being updated.

As of yet, no individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Ahmad Alamolhoda, a senior cleric whose website had also been hacked, suggested in an interview with the local IRNA news agency that the cyberattack was most likely the work of the MEK.

At the same time, hacker group "Hooshyarane Vatan" recently claimed responsibility for attacking another target in Iran - Mahan Air airline. The group claims to have obtained evidence tying the airline to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.