Advanced Journal of Management, Humanity and Social Science

A Comparative Study of the Legal Framework for Combating Cyberterrorism in Iranian and EU Law

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Amir Chaman

Master of Criminal Law and Criminology, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan Branch, Gilan, Iran

10.5281/zenodo.23168833
Abstract
Cyberterrorism is not synonymous with serious hacking, ideologically motivated disruption, terrorist propaganda, or state-sponsored cyber operations. This article compares how Iranian law and European Union law address digitally enabled violence and interference that may meet a terrorism threshold, while also assessing ordinary cybercrime, critical-infrastructure security, electronic evidence and procedural safeguards. Employing a qualitative doctrinal and functional comparative method, it reads Iran’s Computer Crimes Act against the EU Counter-Terrorism Directive, the attacks-against-information-systems framework and the layered cybersecurity acquis, with developments through 24 September 2026. It finds a shared capacity to prosecute harmful interference with essential systems but significant differences in the express legal link between cyber interference and terrorist purpose, the distribution of preventive duties and the architecture of cross-border evidence. The comparison also demonstrates that resilience laws cannot replace criminal-law proof of intent and that cybersecurity incident datasets must not be treated as estimates of terrorist offending. The article proposes tightly defined offence criteria, interoperable evidence safeguards and risk-based infrastructure protection without conflating political expression, cybercrime and terrorism. [R01-R17, R20]

Graphical Abstract

A Comparative Study of the Legal Framework for Combating Cyberterrorism in Iranian and EU Law

Keywords

cyberterrorism
Iran
European Union
comparative criminal law
critical infrastructure
NIS2
Subjects
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[R02] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (n.d.). SHERLOC legislative database: Iran, Computer Crimes Act, arts. 28-31.
[R03] European Parliament and Council. (2013). Directive 2013/40/EU on attacks against information systems. Official Journal of the European Union. 
 [R04] European Parliament and Council. (2017). Directive (EU) 2017/541 on combating terrorism. Official Journal of the European Union. 
[R05] European Parliament and Council. (2022). Directive (EU) 2022/2555 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS2). 
[R06] European Parliament and Council. (2022). Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA).  
 [R07] European Parliament and Council. (2022). Directive (EU) 2022/2557 on the resilience of critical entities (CER).  
 [R08] European Parliament and Council. (2023). Regulation (EU) 2023/1543 on European Production Orders and European Preservation Orders for electronic evidence.  
[R09] European Parliament and Council. (2023). Directive (EU) 2023/1544 on designated establishments and legal representatives for gathering electronic evidence.  
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[R11] European Parliament and Council. (2021). Regulation (EU) 2021/784 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online.  
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 [R13] European Parliament and Council. (2024). Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 on horizontal cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements (Cyber Resilience Act).  
 [R14] European Parliament and Council. (2025). Regulation (EU) 2025/38 on measures to strengthen cyber solidarity and incident response capacities (Cyber Solidarity Act).  
[R15] European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). (2025). ENISA Threat Landscape 2025 (reporting period: 1 July 2024-30 June 2025).
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[R17] Financial Action Task Force (FATF). (2026, June 19). High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action.  
 [R18] Council of Europe. (2026). Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185): chart of signatures and ratifications, status page.  
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[R22] European Commission. (2026). ProtectEU-related counter-terrorism agenda, COM (2026) 101 final (contextual policy document, not binding legislation).  
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[R24] Iranian legal text repository. (2009). Computer Crimes Act, Persian full text (cross-check of Articles 8-11 and 32-34).  
 [R25] European Union. (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  
 [R26] European Union. (2012). Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, especially arts. 7, 8, 11, 47-49 and 52. 
[R27] European Parliament and Council. (2019). Directive (EU) 2019/713 on combating fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash means of payment (adjacent financial-crime law, not a terrorism offence).  
Advanced Journal of Management, Humanity and Social Science
Volume 2, Issue 4
July and August 2026
Pages 380-391

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