Iran claims US exploited networking equipment backdoors during strikes — says devices from Cisco and others failed despite blackout in attack that 'indicates deep sabotage'

Iran has accused the U.S. of exploiting networking equipment backdoors from Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, and MikroTik during military operations against Iran. The Iranian media claims that these devices failed during the attacks despite Iran being disconnected from the global Internet, suggesting deep sabotage. While these claims are unverified, the U.S. has confirmed conducting cyber operations against Iran's communications infrastructure. The vendors named by Iran have had past security issues, with examples like NSA intercepting Cisco routers for surveillance implants and Juniper finding unauthorized code in its firmware. Chinese state media has supported Iran's claims, linking them to American backdoors in networking hardware.