Iran sets up economic, cyber defense bases

Head of Iran's Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali announced that Tehran has established an economic and a cyber defense base to counter and decrease enemies' threats to the Iranian security and society. "The cyber base was launched through cooperation among Iran's Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Intelligence Ministry to reduce enemy's individual, social and security threats," Jalali told reporters in a press conference on Monday. He further explained that enemy threats in the field of civil defense include constant psychological operations, soft war, economic threats and cyber attacks, and said enemies' economic attacks on Iran have led to the blockade of the economic activities of a large number of Iranian companies. Jalali said the economic defense base was launched in a bid to assess enemies' threats, and stated that due to the emphasis of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Iran's economic progress, the country should strive to focus on this field to identify deficiencies as well as the existing capacities and capabilities to remove these imperfections and flaws. The remarks come amid reports that the Israeli military is planning a major cyber war against Iran by setting up a military cyber command. The new cyber command, which has been described as central to the "defense capability" of the Israeli regime, will directly report to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli command center, supported by the military, has reportedly conducted a series of "soft" espionage missions, including hacking into Iran's version of Facebook and other social networking sites. A source with close knowledge of Israel's cyber war preparations said that Tel Aviv has two principal cyber targets, namely stopping Tehran's nuclear program and its civil infrastructure. Iran's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Reza Taqipour said on August 10 that the Islamic Republic has taken appropriate countermeasures, including the establishment of a cyber command, to control and foil cyber attacks targeting the Islamic Republic.