Iranian Bank Cards Fail Nationwide, Leaving Up to 90% of Payments Down for 4 Hours
Updated
Updated · ایران اینترنشنال · Jun 13
Iranian Bank Cards Fail Nationwide, Leaving Up to 90% of Payments Down for 4 Hours
3 articles · Updated · ایران اینترنشنال · Jun 13
Summary
Bank cards from major Iranian lenders including Bank Melli, Tejarat, Sepah, Saderat and Mellat stopped working on Saturday, with customers reporting failed purchases, blocked transfers, ATM problems and POS “issuer error” messages.
Nearly 90% of cards were down for about four hours at one shop, while users from Mashhad and other cities said disruptions had started in the morning and were hitting both online transfers and in-person payments.
The outage landed as many households were already struggling to buy basics, with citizens telling Iran International they now rely on bread, rice, potatoes and onions as food inflation outpaces wages.
Central Bank data showed year-on-year inflation of 161% for milk, cheese and eggs, 267% for oils and fats, and 176% for meat products, helping explain why even short payment failures can quickly disrupt daily life.
While Iranians starve, how does a sophisticated shadow economy keep the state's war machine funded?
Is Iran's use of child soldiers a sign of military desperation or a strategy to forge a new generation of loyalists?
Iran’s June 2026 Banking Cyberattack: Systemic Vulnerabilities, Socio-Economic Fallout, and Geopolitical Escalation
Overview
On June 13, 2026, a major cyberattack struck Iran’s banking system, causing widespread disruptions across the country. Customers in cities like Mashhad could not use their bank cards from leading banks, and point-of-sale devices showed issuer errors, leaving citizens and businesses unable to make electronic payments. In response, Iran’s Bank Coordination Council quickly addressed the public, assuring that no unauthorized access to customer information had occurred. This incident highlighted the vulnerability of Iran’s financial infrastructure and the immediate challenges faced by both the public and the banking sector during the crisis.