At the start of their working week on June 13-14, some Iranians found themselves abruptly cut off from banking services: cards wouldn't process at their usual corner shop, ATMs would not dispense cash, and banking apps came up blank, showing neither balance nor transaction history.
The disruption affected a portion of customers at Bank Melli, Bank Saderat, Bank Tejarat and the Export Development Bank of Iran, four institutions that together serve a large portion of Iran's banked population, in a country where the card has largely replaced cash for everyday transactions.
Queues formed at branches as people tried to withdraw cash or check balances in person instead, while daily businesses such as taxi drivers or shopkeepers failed to process customer payments.
For all the disruption it caused, this never became a national crisis. It affected a meaningful share of customers without bringing daily life to a halt, registering for many Iranians as just another drawback of life in today's Iran. That muted reaction was reinforced by the reporting itself, which stayed fragmented throughout, and by the absence, even weeks later, of a clear, consistent account from officials of what had actually happened.
A prolonged disturbance
The country’s Banking Coordination Council initially said the disruption was the result of a deliberate cyberattack on the shared infrastructure linking the four banks, taking care to contain public concern by describing it as limited in scope and insisting that no customer data had been accessed or compromised.
Yet, within days, the council’s language shifted toward vague references to “technical disruptions in processing and communications infrastructure," a conspicuous retreat from the cyberattack framing that left more questions than answers. As a result, a myriad of theories emerged to explain the disruption, from a botched software update to a deliberate move by authorities to suppress gold and currency prices, the kind of rumour mill that thrives precisely when officials fail to provide a clear account.
