Albania breaks diplomatic ties with Iran after cyber-attack
On 15 July, the Republic of Albania became the target of a cyberattack that paralysed digital services, such as the public portal e-Albania and government websites such as that of the Prime Minister, and cost the small Balkan country almost a month of data recovery work.
On Wednesday, almost two months after the attack, Tirana announced the official severance of diplomatic relations with Tehran - which it has accused of being behind the cyber offensive - and the expulsion of all diplomats and members of the Iranian embassy in the country within the next 24 hours.
"The government has decided to end diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran with immediate effect," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a video statement. "This response [...] is fully commensurate with the severity and risk of the cyber attack that threatened to paralyse public services, wipe digital systems and hack state records, steal electronic communications from the government intranet and cause chaos and insecurity in the country".
The decision, which Mandiant's vice president of intelligence John Hultquist told Reuters was "the strongest public response to a cyber attack ever seen", came as Washington concluded - after weeks of investigations - that the Ayatollahs' regime was behind the attack.
"The in-depth investigation provided us with indisputable evidence that the cyber attack was orchestrated and sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran through the engagement of four groups that promulgated the aggression," Rama said. In line with the White House, which for weeks has maintained specialists on the ground - a NATO ally - to cooperate with Albanian investigations and assist in the restoration of data, the White House has concluded that it was Tehran that carried out the "reckless" and "unprecedented" attack in violation of peacetime norms of not harming the most critical civilian infrastructure.
" The US will take steps to hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a US ally and set a troubling precedent for cyberspace," the US Security Council warned in a statement, right in the midst of negotiations between Washington, the G5 countries and Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear pact.
However, several international observers claim that the Iranian attack may be aimed not so much at Albania's own cyber institutions, but at Iranian dissidents from the exiled opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), also known as the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). A group with Marxist roots which, despite having supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution, its subsequent enmity towards Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led it to commit a series of assassinations and attacks in Persian territory.
Settled in Albania since 2014 (which has cost the Balkan country a tense relationship with the Islamic Republic), a group of some 3,000 MEK dissidents had organised a global summit on 23-24 July this summer called 'Free Iran', to be attended by US parliamentarians and leading political figures from the West to "call on the Biden Administration to adopt decisive policies against Tehran".
However, the summit - which was to take place just 30 kilometres from the Albanian capital of Tirana - was cancelled "on further notice", due to "the recommendations of the Albanian government, for security reasons and due to terrorist threats and conspiracies". The US embassy in Albania also warned of this.
