Iranian communications hit by Cybercom ahead of military strikes, official says

The U.S. Cyber Command was confirmed by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine to have deployed cyber operations that disrupted communications and sensor networks across Iran before the joint U.S.-Israel military strikes against the country over the weekend that resulted in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Targeting such infrastructure has hampered Iran from effectively assessing, coordinating, or responding to the strikes, said Caine at a Pentagon press conference. Such statements from Caine come after he and President Donald Trump had indicated the Cyber Command's involvement in cyberattacks that cut power and disrupted air defense radars in Venezuela's capital of Caracas in the lead-up to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Both the U.S. and Israel have already been preparing for retaliatory cyberattacks from Iran.