Albania cuts diplomatic ties with Iran over July cyberattack

TIRANA, Albania — Albania cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled the country’s embassy staff over a major cyberattack nearly two months ago that was allegedly carried out by Tehran on Albanian government websites, the prime minister said Wednesday. “As negotiations surrounding the Iran nuclear deal continue to stall, this activity indicates Iran may feel less restraint in conducting cyber network attack operations going forward.” At the time, the Albanian government said the hackers’ methods was identical to attacks last year in other NATO countries, including Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Belgium. “The United States strongly condemns Iran’s cyberattack,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka said Tirana “communicated closely with our partners, at NATO and the European Union, and also at the bilateral level, and asked for their support in Albania’s decision-making and, no doubt, for the future to address such kind of threats the best way possible.” “The aggressiveness of the attack, the level of attack and moreover the fact that it was a fully unprovoked attack left no space for any other decision,” Xhacka said.