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Hacktivist group Tapandegan on Tuesday said it had hacked Iran’s Bank Mellat, releasing personal data from more than 32 million customer accounts in what it described as a warning about systemic vulnerabilities in the country’s banking sector.
“Infiltrating Bank Mellat’s systems and navigating through them was extremely easy and unimpeded,” the group said in a post on their Telegram channel. “If we were a hostile group, we could have easily brought down and emptied the entire banking system of this wrecked country.”
Tapandegan said the disclosure was not meant to steal assets but to raise public awareness about what it called a “domino collapse” of financial institutions linked to the “regime.”
“We do not tamper with assets,” the group added. “The release of this information is merely a warning bell.”
Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday responded to the ceasefire with Israel by threatening to expel UN nuclear watchdog inspectors and declaring the Islamic Republic's rising global power.
“The West must soon get used to ambiguity over Iran’s nuclear program,” MP Amir Hossein Sabeti said, adding, “Not only have Iran’s nuclear facilities not been destroyed, but Israel will soon receive a more decisive blow—when, with a majority vote in parliament, the spy inspectors from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors are expelled.”
Separately, MP Mohammad Nabavian said the ceasefire marked the beginning of “a new phase of the war,” adding, “The Islamic Republic empire is emerging…we were a regional power, but now the Iranian nation is a global power…the enemy has asked us for a ceasefire.”
US president Donald Trump praised Iranians' trading skills, predicting the nation to do more business with the world.
“They are not going to have enrichment and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. They're going to get on to being a great trading nation," Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.
"They've got a lot of oil. They're going to do well," he added. "The last thing on Iran's mind right now is nuclear weapons."
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday morning to declare that China can now resume purchasing oil from Iran, adding that he hopes Beijing will also buy "plenty" from the US.
“China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran. Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the US, also. It was my Great Honor to make this happen!” Trump wrote.
The post comes as a fragile ceasefire holds between Iran and Israel, following weeks of escalating military conflict.
Iranian news outlet Farda reported that a number of soldiers, officers, and military officials have recently failed to report to duty or have refused to follow orders.
According to the report, some personnel have fled their posts and gone into hiding.
The report added that in response, senior judiciary officials within Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff have issued harsh warnings to various branches, saying that “any disobedience or desertion will be considered a serious blow to the Islamic Republic’s security and treated as treason—whether motivated by aiding the enemy or personal reasons.”
