Iran's Cyber-Police (FATA) has warned about a “critical vulnerability” recently discovered in an office automation system used by important public, private and educational institutions in the country.
In a text message FATA police asked online businesses to “act with urgency” to disconnect the Chargoon software from the Internet.
However, no further official details have been released on how the vulnerability has been identified or how it can affect organizations using the automation system.
Publishing an image of the correspondence page of the Chargoon system, a hacktivist group called APT IRAN claimed it infiltrated the software.
The group had previously claimed to have infiltrated other organizations in Iran, including Irancell, one of the two top mobile operators in the country.
In addition to the FATA police, other government agencies have issued similar warnings about the Chargoon automation system.
Kharazmi University, one of Iran’s high-ranking academic institutions, announced that the Chargoon software will no longer be available to users outside the campus. The decision was made with regard to “certain security considerations” and “upstream instructions.”
Charoon lists as its official clients various government institutions, including Iran’s ministries of Sport and Youth, Culture and Islamic Guidance, Health, Roads and Urban Development, and Energy, as well as National Tax Administration and General Inspection Office.
Last month, Amin Sabeti, a cybersecurity specialist, told Iran International that the Iranian regime will continue facing increasing cyberattacks due to “structural defects” in their cyber defense systems.
On February 13, a cyberattack targeted over 600 Iranian government servers, including the Iranian parliament’s media arm. The attack claimed by the hacktivist group Uprising till Overthrow, closely linked with the Albania-based opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) organization.
Another cyberattack paralyzed gas stations in Iran in December. Tehran accused Israel of having a part in the operation.
While the Iranian regime heavily relies on Beijing as its primary oil customer, the actual data on bilateral economic relations appears less promising for the sanctions-stricken country.
China's foreign trade statistics for 2023 reveal that Beijing's largest trade volume is with the European Union, reaching $783 billion last year. Following the EU are major economies such as the US ($664 billion), Japan ($318 billion), South Korea, and others.
This overall picture will most probably not appeal to the Iranian regime sympathizers who have frequently lauded Tehran-Beijing ties as a sign of Iran’s foreign policy success; they have to be very patient to get to Iran’s name on the list.
Iran's placement as China's 38th trading partner, with trade volume not exceeding $32 billion, falls significantly behind several neighboring and regional rivals. Saudi Arabia, for instance, boasts a trade volume with China of $107 billion, followed by the UAE, Iraq, Turkey, and Oman.
Next in the region are the UAE ($95 billion), Iraq ($50 billion), Turkey ($43 billion) and Oman ($35 billion). Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan and Egypt are the only regional countries whose volume of trade with China is less than Iran’s.
Iran Economist news website covered China’s foreign trade data in 2023 and Iran’s meager share in it, ironically calling it “the new achievement” of the Iranian government.
Faraz Daily, an online newspaper, warned that decline in trade with China is just a symptom which reflects a much enormous problem: Iran’s decline share of the world trade. According to the newspaper, Iran’s share of world trade has alarmingly decreased to %0.24 in 2022.
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, economist and the founder of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think-tank focusing on economic diplomacy in the Middle East and Central Asia, remarked on X that “Chinese exports to Iran have fallen significantly since their 2014 peak” while Beijing’s trade with Moscow has grown.
Many observers contend that China has over the past years considered Iran as an instrument through which it can boost its leverage in the region. According to Amin Saikal, emeritus professor of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, “in befriending Iran and Afghan theocracies, China has positioned itself to be able to extend its influence across West Asia, given Tehran’s formidable proxy presence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.”
Despite this, Iranian officials have made numerous concessions to China, including granting contracts for infrastructure projects in Tehran, a move criticized by Ahmad Khorram, former Roads and Transportation Minister, as detrimental to local expertise.
Earlier this month, Tehran’s municipality announced that China will soon start building housing units in the capital. Mayor Alireza Zakani said several contracts have been signed with Chinese companies to revamp the capital’s infrastructure, including construction and transportation projects, at the expense of local businesses amidst a crippling economic crisis.
Rejecting the deal as an insult to the local expertise, Ahmad Khorram, former Roads and Transportation Minister, warned that “we have given China privileges that are unprecedented in our country.” According to the former minister, Tehran provides Beijing with all these privileges to guarantee its support in the UN Security Council.
Both China and Russia have collaborated with the US over banning Iran’s nuclear program and were the first countries to back the Security Council’s resolutions against Iran, he stressed.
