Handala hacks California water systems in warning after US strike on Iran’s reservoirs

A pro-Resistant hacktivist group announced that it has breached California water facilities in direct retaliation for a US airstrike that destroyed drinking water reservoirs in southern Iran.

The group, known as Handala, said on Thursday that it targeted California water infrastructure after US forces struck two reservoirs in Sirik, a town in Hormozgan province, cutting off access to drinking water for more than 20,000 residents.

“Only two days ago, [Trump] destroyed the water sources of the oppressed people of Sirik with multi-million-dollar rockets, inflicting forced thirst and suffering in 50-degree heat,” Handala said in its statement. “Today, retribution has reached the heart of America.”

The group said it stopped short of actually cutting off water to American cities — a capability it said to possess — citing a different ethical code than its adversaries.

“We could have easily cut off the water to American cities just as your foolish president did, but our path and our school are different,” it added.

The group said the breach was a warning to the White House.

“This is not 2010, when you could attack with Stuxnet and suffer no consequences. Today, every assault will be met within hours by a far more devastating blow to your own infrastructure.”

The group added that 5 GB of data on the latest breach is available on its website as a sign of proof.

The strike on Sirik has drawn widespread condemnation and triggered legal action. Mojtaba Qahramani, head of the Hormozgan provincial judiciary, announced the attack has been formally registered as a war crime case, citing Articles 52 and 54 of the 1977 First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit destroying objects essential to civilian survival — including water facilities.

An analysis by The New York Times of satellite imagery and videos released by provincial authorities concluded that targeting the water facility “could constitute a war crime.”

Water supply to the affected areas was restored within 12 hours, according to Abdolhamid Hamzehpour of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, though he noted the destruction had created “a major problem for the region’s water supply network” given insufficient local groundwater reserves.

Iran said the results of its domestic and international legal proceedings will be made public in the near future.