Tehran, Iran- The United States (US) government has slapped Iran with new sanctions over an alleged cyberattack against Albania carried out on the 15th of July.
According to the US, the alleged cyberattack on its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally, was carried out by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security as well as its Minister, Esmail Khatib.
“Iran’s cyberattack against Albania disregards norms of responsible peacetime State behaviour in cyberspace, which includes a norm on refraining from damaging critical infrastructure that provides services to the public. We will not tolerate Iran’s increasingly aggressive cyber activities targeting the United States or our allies and partners,” said Treasury Under Secretary, Brian Nelson.
The sanctions seek to freeze any assets under US jurisdiction and forbid any US individuals or companies including international banks with US operations to do business with Iran, a move aimed and blocking Iran’s access to global financial networks.
Moreso, the Treasury singled out one active Iranian group, dubbed MuddyWater, which it said has conducted cyber campaigns since 2018, exploiting foreign network vulnerabilities to steal sensitive data and deploy ransomware citing that MuddyWater conducted a sustained cyberattack against Turkish government entities late last year.
On Wednesday, Edi Rama, the Albanian Prime Minister, blamed the cyberattack, on Iran and gave its diplomats 24 hours to leave the country.
The Albanian counterterrorism police later searched the Iranian Embassy after the staff had left citing that Iranian diplomats had burnt papers inside the premises before they left.
In a video address to the nation, Rama said the cyberattack has “threatened to paralyze public services, erase digital systems and hack into State records, steal government intranet electronic communication and stir chaos and insecurity in the country.”
Ties between Albania and Iran have been fraught since 2014 when Albania sheltered around 3 000 members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK after they left Iraq. Albania has previously expelled four Iranian diplomats in two separate instances in 2018 and 2020 for threatening national security.
Meanwhile, the US, European Union (EU) and Iran are currently in talks over the revival of a 2015 deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran and the US have since exchanged responses on sticking points to fully implement the nuclear pact, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
US officials had previously voiced some optimism around the latest efforts to revive the nuclear deal, which the US left in 2018, which according to Washington, Tehran has increasingly violated since then.
