Global internet, power plants and US computer systems will be at risk if America continues to attack Iran, an Iranian official said on Monday.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Hossein Mohebbi was speaking with Iranian broadcaster Irib, amid stalled negotiations and threats from the US that more strikes could be imminent.
"If a threat against Iran occurs again, hundreds of thousands of miles of energy transmission lines, hundreds of power plants, US computer systems and global infrastructure connected to the internet will be at risk," Mr Mohebbi said.
Several US states have reported hacks on their water systems, which experts say probably originated in Iran.
Iran has in recent years become a major base for cyber crime. Since US and Israeli strikes against the country began at the end of February, state-sponsored and independent cyber attacks have affected several US services and businesses.
In March, Handala, an Iran-linked group, followed through on a threat to attack the US domestic intelligence service, the FBI, by hacking director Kash Patel's personal email and cloud services.
It was later determined that Handala was responsible for a cyber attack against Michigan-based medical technology company Stryker, which has more than 50,000 employees around the world.
After Iran's hacks on US water, the Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Agency issued a warning about a possible increase in cyber attacks against digital systems.
Even before this year's conflict, officials and technology experts have highlighted Iran's use of cyber crime as a major weapon.
Last year, Brett Leatherman, who leads the FBI’s cyber operations division, said that while Iran and its cyber proxies have not yet carried out any cataclysmic attacks against the US, intelligence indicated Tehran has intensified its efforts and such a strike might not be far off.
“If you use cyber weapons to destroy infrastructure, you’re now destroying information that a sovereign nation depends on,” Mr Leatherman said. “That tends to be a red line.”
