Iran was behind cyber attack on British lawmakers in June: Report

Iran carried out a cyber attack on British lawmakers earlier this year, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday, citing an intelligence assessment of the incident.

The report came the day after Britain joined other European countries in warning the United States against harming a nuclear deal with Iran.

Britain's parliament was hit by a "sustained and determined" cyber attack in June, designed to identify weak email passwords, just over a month after a ransomware worm crippled parts of the country's health service.

The Times said that the attack was Iran's first significant cyber attack on a British target after the hack was initially blamed on Russia.

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre was not immediately available for comment.

The Iranian government had no immediate comment.

While the motive for the attack has not yet been established, the hackers were not seeking simple financial profit, The Times said.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump sharply criticised Iran and the international agreement aimed at curbing its nuclear programme on Friday, refusing to certify Tehran's compliance and warning that the United States could pull out at any time.

He also announced targeted sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, a key instrument of Tehran's military and foreign policy that the president described as "the Iranian Supreme Leader's corrupt personal terror force and militia".

He said he is authorising the US Treasury Department to "further sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and affiliates".

But the US leader backed away from designating the Guards Corps as a terror group, a move that would have triggered a slew of sanctions and almost certain Iranian retribution.