US Treasury Sanctions Iranian 'Cyber Threat Group'

FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in front of the displayed cyber code in this illustration picture taken March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in front of the displayed cyber code in this illustration picture taken March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
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US Treasury Sanctions Iranian 'Cyber Threat Group'

FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in front of the displayed cyber code in this illustration picture taken March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in front of the displayed cyber code in this illustration picture taken March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

The United States has imposed sanctions on two Iranian entities and 45 associated individuals who carried out a malware campaign targeting Iranian dissidents, journalists and international travel companies, the US Treasury Department said on Thursday.

The department named one of the entities as Iranian cyber threat group Advanced Persistent Threat 39 and the other as a front company called Rana Intelligence Computing Company (Rana), saying both are owned or controlled by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

"The Iranian regime uses its Intelligence Ministry as a tool to target innocent civilians and companies, and advance its destabilizing agenda around the world," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "The United States is determined to counter offensive cyber campaigns designed to jeopardize security and inflict damage on the international travel sector."

The Treasury said the 45 individuals were employed at Rana, serving as managers, programmers and hacking experts, and supported cyber intrusions targeting the networks of international businesses, institutions, air carriers, and other targets that the MOIS considered a threat.

The Treasury Department said that an FBI advisory detailed eight separate and distinct sets of malware used by MOIS through Rana to conduct their computer intrusion activities.

It said this is the first time most of these technical indicators have been publicly discussed and attributed to MOIS by the US government. By making the code public, the FBI seeks to hinder MOIS’s ability to continue their campaign, ending the victimization of thousands of individuals and organizations, the Treasury Department added in its statement.



Iran President Fires Deputy Over Pricey Antarctica Trip

FILED - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa
FILED - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa
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Iran President Fires Deputy Over Pricey Antarctica Trip

FILED - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa
FILED - 10 February 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech during a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square Photo: Mehdi Bolourian/Iranian Presidency/dpa

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday dismissed his deputy for parliamentary affairs over a costly trip to Antarctica, as the country grapples with hyperinflation amid a biting economic crisis.

A photo shared on social media in recent days showed the now former vice-president, Shahram Dabiri, alongside a woman identified as his wife, posing near the Plancius cruise ship.

The Dutch-flagged vessel has offered luxury expeditions to Antarctica since 2009, with one agency pricing an eight-day trip at 3,885 euros per person, AFP reported.

"In a context where economic pressure on the population remains high... expensive leisure trips by officials, even if paid out of their own pocket, are neither defensible nor justifiable," the Iranian president wrote in a letter published Saturday by the official IRNA news agency, which noted that Dabiri was dismissed.

Dabiri, a 64-year-old physician by profession and a close confidant of Pezeshkian, had been appointed to the post in August.

The government faced strong criticism after the photo was published, and several of Pezeshkian's supporters urged him to remove the official.

IRNA late last month cited a source in Dabiri's office as saying that he had made the trip before he held a governmental position.