Only to have the system speakers launch into the characteristic opening drum sequence of Never Gonna Give You Up.
Tehran, June 25 - An Israeli military outfit that specializes in the computer and technological realms struck yet another clow against the Islamic Republic last night when every device the latter sought to bring to bear against Israeli aircraft replaced its normal electronic interface with a 1987 Rick Astley song and video, sources within the regime disclosed today.
Telegram and other platforms lit up overnight with discussion of the incident, which affected surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft cannon, and even several batteries of cruise missiles intended for launch against the Jewish State. As of this morning, those sources indicate, the systems had yet to brought back online, adding to the impotence and humiliation that Iranian forces have suffered for two weeks already - and that they have suffered vicariously since Israel began rolling up the regime's regional proxies in the last two years.
The Telegram evidence appears to show that the Rickrolling began just after midnight local time - or just after 11:30 PM in Israel - when a SAM battery in the northwestern part of the country attempted to light up an Israeli F-15 with its fire-control radar, only to have the system speakers launch into the characteristic opening drum sequence of Never Gonna Give You Up and the screen begin showing the British artist swaying as he crooned.
According to the reports, repeated efforts to deactivate and reinitialize the SAM system had little effect, and soon at least five other SAM sites and anti-aircraft gun batteries experienced the same problem. The only remaining active anti-air batteries west of Tehran, reports indicated, had technology too old to display video - or to intercept sophisticated Israeli fighters and drones.
By three in the morning, seventeen surface-to-surface missile batteries fell to the same hack - which, by ten in the morning, experts and Iranian intelligence sources agreed most likely originated in the UDF's Unit 8200 and its cyberwarfare specialists. A spokesman for the IDF denied any knowledge of any such operation.
"Perhaps there are moles inside Iran's military who would like to bring down the regime from within," the spokesman suggested. "Everyone already knows that the Mossad has been able to operate in Iran with no impediments because there's no shortage of Iranians willing to work against the ayatollahs and their repressive policies. Unit 8200 doesn't have to get involved here. While we appreciate the humor, it smacks of something a little cruder than what Israeli intelligence and operations have pulled off in the last year and a half."
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