Albania breaks relations with Iran and gives its diplomats 24 hours to leave the country

Rama accuses Tehran of being behind a large-scale computer attack in July

Sep. 7 () –

The Albanian government announced on Wednesday the severance of diplomatic relations with Iran and ordered all Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 24 hours, following an investigation into a cyberattack recorded in July 2022.

The Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has confirmed that “the Council of Ministers has decided with immediate effect to end relations with Iran”, a decision that has been transferred to the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, as reported by the radio television network Albanian Albanian Radio and TV (RTSh).

“This extreme measure, not at all desired (by Albania) and totally forced, is directly proportional to the seriousness and danger of the cyber attack, which threatened to paralyze public services, destroy systems and steal state data,” he said. Rama, who added that the goal was to cause “chaos” in the European country.

Thus, Rama has emphasized that the investigations have resulted in “irrefutable evidence” that the attack “was orchestrated and sponsored by Iran, which contacted four groups to attack Albania” and added that among them there are some who have been behind previous attacks against Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Cyprus.

“We have informed our strategic allies, the NATO countries and other friendly countries, with whom we have also shared the irrefutable results of the investigation, which show what was the source of the aggression against our country,” the first Albanian minister.

“The failure of this massive attack against our country, thanks to the resistance of the installed systems and the help of special groups that joined us in this war, does not mean the end of the cyber threat, but it is proof that Albania is on the map thanks to digital development in the war against computer insecurity,” he stressed.

In this sense, Rama stressed that “the positive news” for Albania is that the country “knows that no one can touch it”. “We know we will do the right thing because we have the right partners,” he has settled. Iran has not yet commented on Albania’s decision or on the conclusions of the investigation carried out by Tirana.