Cyberattacks struck water and wastewater systems across at least seven U.S. states, and a political fight over who is responsible, Iran or Minnesota's own government, has overshadowed the federal response.

President Trump pointed the finger squarely at Minnesota during a Friday cabinet meeting at Camp David, dismissing the possibility of Iranian involvement and calling the state "grossly incompetent." Gov. Tim Walz fired back within hours on X, accusing the president of knowing the real culprit and using the crisis to score political points while the country remains at war with Iran.

The attacks, first identified in Minnesota, spread to Michigan by Saturday and reached at least five additional states whose names had not yet been made public as of Saturday afternoon. No drinking water was contaminated or rendered unsafe, the Daily Caller reported, but the scope of the intrusions rattled local officials who said they were struggling to get clear answers from state and federal agencies.

Trump pins the blame on Minnesota, not Tehran

At Camp David on Friday, Trump made his position plain. He told his cabinet he did not believe Iran was behind the attacks and instead blamed the state of Minnesota directly.

"I blame it on Minnesota because they are grossly incompetent."

He went further, suggesting Tehran had more pressing concerns than hacking American water utilities.

"Iran has bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota."

The White House, asked for additional comment, referred reporters back to Trump's remarks. The Department of War told the Daily Caller it "did not have anything to provide."

Walz calls the attacks 'modern warfare' and faults Trump's Iran strategy

Walz responded on X on July 31, framing the cyberattacks as an act of war and turning the moment into an indictment of the administration's broader Iran policy.

"Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there's no plan to win a war with Iran."

Walz did not name Iran explicitly in his post, but the implication was unmistakable, and it directly contradicted Trump's public dismissal of an Iranian role. The governor offered no details about what Minnesota's own cybersecurity agencies had done to prevent or mitigate the intrusions.

Walz's tenure in Minnesota has drawn sustained scrutiny from the Trump administration on other fronts. Vice President JD Vance referred Walz to the DOJ Fraud Division in June for a criminal investigation, posting on X that if the governor and his administration "facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimated whistleblowers, they must face justice."

That referral stemmed from a fraud scandal linked to Minnesota's Twin Cities area. The current status of the investigation has not been disclosed publicly.

FBI says it is 'fully engaged' but won't publicly name Iran

The FBI issued a careful statement to the Daily Caller acknowledging the attacks but stopping well short of attributing them to any specific actor.

"The FBI is aware of recent public reporting around Water and Wastewater (WWS) sectors. The FBI and our interagency partners are fully engaged to protect critical infrastructure and we remain well-equipped to protect against cyber threats of all varieties."

But behind the scenes, the bureau's posture appears different. The mayor of a small Minnesota city told the New York Times he was "getting bits and pieces of information from the state of Minnesota" and that the FBI privately indicated agents "are pretty sure it's Iranian actors" but "are reluctant to state this publicly."

That gap, between what federal investigators apparently believe and what they are willing to say on the record, leaves local officials and the public in limbo. The unnamed mayor's account suggests the FBI has reached at least a preliminary conclusion about attribution but has chosen not to share it openly, even as the president publicly rejects the Iranian theory altogether.

Anonymous U.S. officials cited by the New York Times described Iran as the "most likely perpetrator," based in part on Tehran's history of targeting similar water infrastructure. Neither the Times reporting nor the FBI statement provided forensic details or technical evidence supporting that assessment.

Seven states hit, five still unnamed

Minnesota was the only state identified when Trump addressed his cabinet Friday. By Saturday, Michigan had been confirmed as a second target. Five more states were reportedly affected, but their identities had not been released as of Saturday afternoon.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller. Whitmer's silence left Michigan residents without any public statement from their governor about the scope of the attack or the state's response.

Walz, meanwhile, has faced questions about his judgment on multiple fronts. His decision to pardon a convicted child sex offender, later deported by the Trump administration, drew bipartisan criticism. And his appointment of the George Floyd trial judge to a new state council prompted sharp criticism from the convicted officer in that case.

No technical details about the cyberattacks, the method of intrusion, the specific systems compromised, or the extent of any data breach, have been made public. The absence of that information makes independent assessment of either Trump's or Walz's claims impossible for now.

War with Iran looms over the political fight

The cyberattack dispute is playing out against the backdrop of an active U.S. military conflict with Iran. Eighteen American service members had been killed in the war as of Saturday afternoon.

Public support for the conflict is thin. An AP-NORC survey conducted July 23, 27 found that 64 percent of U.S. adults believed the war was not "worth fighting." Among independents, that figure rose to 68 percent. Even among Republicans, 37 percent held that view.

Walz's framing of the cyberattacks as "modern warfare" was a deliberate attempt to tie the water system intrusions to the broader Iran conflict and, by extension, to the administration's war strategy. Trump's counter-framing, that Iran had nothing to do with it and Minnesota was simply incompetent, served the opposite purpose: it deflected any connection between the cyberattacks and the war while putting a Democratic governor on the defensive.

Walz's own political standing has deteriorated sharply. After losing the 2024 presidential race as Kamala Harris's running mate, he initially planned to seek a third term as governor in November 2025. He dropped out of that race in January 2026, and the Vance-initiated DOJ referral followed months later.

The result is a governor under federal investigation, presiding over a state whose water infrastructure was breached, trading accusations with a president who says the governor's own government is to blame.

No answers, plenty of finger-pointing

What remains missing is basic accountability. The FBI will not publicly name a suspect. The Pentagon has nothing to offer. The White House points to the president's off-the-cuff remarks. Walz points to Iran. Trump points to Walz. And the mayors of small cities across at least seven states are left piecing together scraps of information while their water systems sit exposed.

The technical mechanism of the attacks, the full list of affected states, and any forensic evidence tying the intrusions to a specific actor all remain undisclosed. Whether the attacks were an act of war by a foreign adversary or the product of domestic negligence, or some combination, is a question no official has answered on the record with evidence to back it up.

When critical infrastructure gets hit and the only response from Washington is a blame game, the people left drinking the water have every right to wonder who is actually in charge of protecting it.