Hackers and internet outages hit Iran amid US air strikes
Source: TechCrunch
Early on Saturday, cities across Iran—including its capital Tehran—were rocked by a series of U.S. and Israel‑led airstrikes that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, and top leadership. The military campaign coincided with cyberattacks targeting the nation, one of which flooded a popular prayer‑app with unsolicited notifications amid an ongoing internet outage.
The strikes followed several days of failed negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which had been held after weeks of mass protests that saw thousands killed alongside the country’s longest internet shutdown to date.
BadeSaba prayer‑app hack
As missiles struck Iranian cities, users of the BadeSaba prayer app reported receiving a flood of notifications that were not from the government but from an apparent outsider.
Image Credit: Vahid Online
The notifications called for a “reckoning” and promised amnesty for anyone who rose up against government forces, according to Wired. One message warned that the Iranian regime would “pay for their cruel and merciless actions against the innocent people of Iran.”
The app, which has more than 5 million downloads, appears to have been compromised, though the responsible party has not been identified.
Wider cyber operations
The Jerusalem Post reported that cyberattacks were used as part of the U.S. and Israeli offensive to limit Iran’s response. Both countries have been suspected of targeting Iranian banks (TechCrunch, 2025‑06‑17) and crypto exchanges (TechCrunch, 2025‑06‑18) to pressure Iran’s leadership.
Regional impact
The disruption is not limited to Iran. Amazon reported an outage at its Middle East data center in the United Arab Emirates after Iranian missiles struck the coastal country; the outage was caused by “objects that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire” (AWS status).
The conflict also threatens to disrupt critical e‑commerce air and sea routes, as ships carrying goods through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran have been forced to halt (Bloomberg).
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, noted in a post on Bluesky that internet connectivity in Iran dropped to near‑zero levels shortly after the airstrikes. Cloudflare also confirmed the collapse of Iran’s internet on Saturday (Cloudflare Radar).
Sources
- TechCrunch – Iran’s internet shutdown is now one of its longest ever as protests continue
- Wired – Hacked prayer app sends surrender messages to Iranians amid Israeli strikes
- Jerusalem Post – Cyberattacks used as part of U.S. and Israeli attacks
- AWS Status – Middle East data center outage
- Bloomberg – Iran strikes snarl e‑commerce delivery times to Middle East
- Bluesky post by Doug Madory
- Cloudflare Radar tweet confirming internet collapse