Iran has said a foreign country was behind a cyberattack that paralysed its petrol distribution network on Tuesday.

Axar.az reports that a group called itself Predatory Sparrow claimed it carried out the hack, but Iran's top internet policy-making body blamed an unnamed "state actor".

President Ebrahim Raisi said the aim was aimed at "stoking public anger".

The attack hit an intranet-based system that lets motorists buy subsidised fuel with government-issued smart cards, causing long queues at petrol stations.

The hackers also hijacked digital billboards on highways in the capital Tehran and elsewhere, making them display a message saying: "[Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei, where is our fuel?"