Prime Minister Eddie Rama said on 7 September that there was ‘incredible evidence’ that the Iranian government was behind the attack.
Prime Minister Eddie Rama said on 7 September that there was ‘incredible evidence’ that the Iranian government was behind the attack.
The last staff of the Iranian embassy in Tirana left the building on 8 September, after they were given 24 hours to leave Albania, a major cyber attack that the Albanian government blames on Iran.
This is the first known case of a country cutting diplomatic ties over a cyberattack.
The last two embassy cars with around 10 passengers left the premises at noon on 8 September after much movement inside the building overnight.
Albanian special police forces and officers were seen around the compound, still hoisting the Iranian flag shortly after the Iranians left.
Movement inside the Iranian embassy in Tirana had come to a halt overnight. An empty barrel was seen being carried into the premises and later caught on fire, apparently burning documents. A diplomatic car went in and out, while an Albanian police officer communicated with the embassy before two officers entered and left a few minutes later.
On 15 July, a cyberattack temporarily shut down several of the Albanian government’s digital services and websites. Prime Minister Eddie Rama said on 7 September that there was “incredible evidence” that the Iranian government was behind the attack.
The United States backed the move by NATO member Albania, and vowed unspecified retaliation against Iran, which it called “a disturbing precedent for cyberspace”.
Iran condemned the expulsion of the diplomats, calling the action “disgusting” and “short-sighted”. iranian state tv,
In a statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied that Tehran was behind any cyber attacks on Albanian government websites, adding that it is Iran that is the target of such attacks on its critical infrastructure.
Relations between Iran and Albania have been strained since 2014, when Albania harbored nearly 3,000 members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq, or MEK, who left Iraq.
In July, the MEK planned to hold the Free Iran World Summit in Manez, west of Tirana, to which US lawmakers were invited. The meeting was canceled “for security reasons and because of terrorist threats and conspiracies”.
In two separate instances in 2020 and 2018, Tirana expelled four Iranian diplomats for “threatening national security”.