TIRANA, Sept. 7, 2022 – Albania’s government has decided to break off diplomatic relations with Iran, Prime Minister Edi Rama said Wednesday morning, adding the extreme measure was in proportion to the seriousness of the recent Iranian state-sponsored cyberattack on Albanian government systems.
“The Council of Ministers has decided with immediate effect the termination of diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This decision was made known with an official note to the embassy of Iran, which was asked that it must leave the territory of the Republic of Albania within 24 hours, all diplomatic and technical-administrative personnel, including security personnel,” Rama said in a video address released to the media.
The Albanian prime minister says the government is absolutely sure the cyberattack on Albania was an Iranian state attack.”
“For weeks now, while work has been ongoing 24/7 to restore all damages, thorough investigations have been conducted to identify the aggressor. In cooperation with specialized partner agencies against cyber terrorism, who brought their teams to Tirana, it was confirmed that, first, without a shadow of doubt, the July 15 attack on Albania was not an individual operation or a concerted action by independent criminal groups, but a State-sponsored aggression,” Rama said. “The in-depth investigation provided us with indisputable evidence that the cyberattack against our country was orchestrated and sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran through the engagement of four groups that enacted the aggression – one of them being a notorious international cyber-terrorist group, which has been a perpetrator or co-perpetrator of earlier cyberattacks targeting Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait and Cyprus.”
Representatives of the opposition Democratic Party and Freedom Party said they support the decision, adding the government should have acted much sooner to break off diplomatic ties with Iran as they had called for in 2021.
Relations between Albania and Iran have deteriorated over the years, with Iranian diplomats up to an ambassador being expelled for unfriendly actions tied to Tirana’s agreement to provide asylum, at the request of the United States, to MEK, an Iranian dissident group.
The United States strongly condemns Iran’s cyberattack against NATO ally Albania and will take further action to hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a U.S. ally and set a troubling precedent for cyberspace, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday, following Tirana’s decision to cut off diplomatic relations with Tehran.
“The U.S. government has been on the ground working alongside private sector partners to support Albania’s efforts to mitigate, recover from, and investigate the July 15 cyberattack that destroyed government data and disrupted government services to the public. We have concluded that the Government of Iran conducted this reckless and irresponsible cyberattack and that it is responsible for subsequent hack and leak operations,” said a statement by the White House’s NSC spokesperson, Adrienne Watson.
Support for Albania’s decision has come also come from other NATO allies, including the United Kingdom.
“Iran’s reckless actions showed a blatant disregard for the Albanian people, severely restricting their ability to access essential public services,” UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement. “The UK is supporting our valuable partner and NATO ally. We join Albania and other allies in exposing Iran’s unacceptable actions.”
In mid-July, there was a major cyberattack on Albania’s government and its online services for citizens, which was likely conducted by an Iranian threat actor, according to a report by Mandaint, a large U.S. cyber security company.
The attack caused a significant disruption to the Albanian government’s network, and came likely in retaliation for a planned of a MEK summit in Albania, the report noted. The summit was later canceled due to security threats.
“This is possibly the strongest public response to a cyber attack we have ever seen. While we have seen a host of other diplomatic consequences in the past, they have not been as severe or broad as this action,” said John Hultquist, the Mandiant’s vice president, said Wednesday. “The attack on Albania is a reminder that while the most aggressive Iranian cyber activity is generally focused in the Middle East region, it is by no means limited to it. Iran will carry out disruptive and destructive cyber attacks as well as complex information operations globally.”
Albania’s government has now fully restored online services to citizens following the massive attack on Albanian state digital infrastructure that forced the government to take its main citizen services portal, e-Albania, offline for several days.
