Iran Jolted by Strikes and Cyber Warfare
In the predawn hours of Saturday, residents across Tehran and other Iranian cities were abruptly awakened by the resounding echoes of explosions. These were not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated series of joint attacks launched by Israel and the United States, described by the aggressors as “preemptive strikes.” This escalation follows a period of stalled diplomatic negotiations and comes on the heels of widespread protests earlier this year in Iran, which, according to government statistics, claimed the lives of at least 3,117 civilians.
Yet, the physical bombardment was swiftly followed by an equally unsettling digital assault. Moments after the initial explosions, Iranian mobile phones began to buzz with a flurry of notifications. These alerts did not originate from official government channels offering guidance or warnings, but from an unlikely source: ‘BadeSaba Calendar,’ a popular prayer-timing application with over 5 million downloads from the Google Play Store, now seemingly compromised.
The Unsettling Call to Surrender
The messages, arriving in rapid succession over a 30-minute period, began at 9:52 am Tehran time with the ominous phrase, ‘Help Has Arrived.’ Screenshots obtained by WIRED Middle East reveal the chilling content: direct appeals to Iranian military personnel to lay down their weapons, promising amnesty in return. The notifications also urged soldiers to align with “the forces of liberation” and to “defend your brothers.”
One message, translated from Farsi and received at 10:02 am, declared, “The time for revenge has come. The regime’s repressive forces will pay for their cruel and merciless actions against the innocent people of Iran. Anyone who joins in defending and protecting the Iranian nation will be granted amnesty and forgiveness.” Another, sent at 10:14 am, pleaded, “For the freedom of our Iranian brothers and sisters, this is a call to all oppressive forces—lay down your weapons or join the forces of liberation. Only in this way can you save your lives. For a free Iran.”
Unraveling the Attribution Mystery
Cybersecurity analysts have confirmed the widespread receipt of these notifications by BadeSaba users during the time of the strikes. However, pinpointing the orchestrators of this sophisticated hack remains elusive. “At this point, we genuinely do not know who is behind them, whether it was Israel or other anti-government Iranian groups,” states Narges Keshavarznia, a digital rights researcher at the Miaan Group, noting the absence of any hacker group claiming responsibility. “Attribution in cases like this is always complex, and it’s still too early to draw conclusions.”
Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, offers a crucial perspective, suggesting that an operation of this magnitude would necessitate extensive pre-planning. “The compromise of assets [likely] happened some time ago, and these messages of ‘help’ were timed strategically,” he asserts. “This is not a smash-and-grab style of attack. It is nation-state versus nation-state and is being executed with intent and precision.”
Kinetic Retaliation and Digital Darkness
The conflict quickly escalated beyond cyber realms. Iran responded on Saturday with retaliatory kinetic attacks, targeting key military bases across the Middle East. Explosions were reported in Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar, with multiple missiles intercepted.
Simultaneously, the Iranian public has been plunged into a familiar state of digital isolation. “The country has been experiencing a widespread internet disruption, and access to the internet has significantly decreased in several parts of the country, including Tehran,” Keshavarznia confirms. Internet monitoring tool NetBlocks reported an alarming drop in overall network traffic to just 4 percent. Data from ArvanCloud’s Radar monitoring system, an Iranian-operated cloud service, further indicates severe disruption or complete loss of international connectivity for many of the country’s main data centers and domestic PoP sites.
The Broader Cyber Front
networks have also been severely impacted, with outages affecting phone lines and SMS services, alongside significant degradation of both mobile data and fixed broadband connections. “Incoming international calls to Iran are also reportedly affected. Even using VPNs has become extremely difficult,” Keshavarznia adds.
The cyber element extends beyond app hacks and internet blackouts. Several state-affiliated news agencies, including IRNA and ISNA, reportedly fell victim to cyberattacks, rendering their websites temporarily offline. While IRNA has since recovered, ISNA remained inaccessible at the time of publishing.
These internet and communication outages evoke recent memories for Iranians, who endured prolonged digital blackouts during the mass protests earlier this year. Though some services were partially restored, the fear of surveillance and disruption lingered. As the internet once again dims across Iran, those anxieties resurface, underscoring the profound implications when the digital world goes dark, leaving citizens without visibility, documentation, or a voice.
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