Cyberattack disrupts services at three Iranian banks

TEHRAN, Iran — A state-owned Iranian banking service provider suspended card transactions at Melli, Saderat and Tejarat banks following cyberattacks, the company said. The firm said all card-related operations at the three banks were halted to block unauthorized access and that cybersecurity teams were working to restore services. The company's public relations official said the outage affected card-linked services, including ATMs, payment terminals and systems, and mobile applications. The Iran Banks Coordination Council said the disruptions followed cyberattacks targeting the shared telecommunications infrastructure used by Melli, Saderat, Tejarat and Tosee Saderat banks. Iranian state media reported that resolving the issue could take several days and that customer data was not compromised in a previous similar incident. Officials have not publicly identified a source behind the latest attacks, though Iran has previously blamed foreign actors, including Israel, for comparable incidents.