TEHRAN – A high-level Iranian cyberspace center has rejected allegations about Iran’s involvement in a cyberattack against Albania, saying it is ready to dispatch a technical team to the European country to investigate the attack. 

Iran’s National Center for Cyberspace (NCC) said in a statement on Tuesday that Iran was not involved in the alleged cyberattack against Albania. It rejected “baseless accusations” against Iran with respect to Albania’s cyberattack.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, while underlining that it pursues peaceful goals and purposes in cyberspace and information and communication technology by all countries, rejects baseless accusations against it with respect to alleged cyberattacks against Albania and expresses readiness to coordinate the dispatching of a technical delegation to investigate the issue and exchange information among computer emergency response teams (CERTs),” the NCC said in the statement. 

Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran in early December and ordered all Iranian diplomats and embassy staff out of the country in 24 hours. The apparent reason for that was an alleged Iranian cyberattack against Albanian government institutions and agencies.

The move, announced by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in a video statement, raised eyebrows in the world as Tehran has been on good terms with Tirana. “The government has decided with immediate effect to end diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Rama said, adding, “This extreme response ... is fully proportionate to the gravity and risk of the cyberattack that 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.”

The alleged cyberattack apparently took place in mid-July and is said to have disrupted government services and agencies. 

The Albanian prime minister alleged that his government had what he called “indisputable evidence” of an Iranian role in the cyberattack. 

“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,” he claimed.

“Cyber Iranophobia” 

The NCC said the accusations against Iran in this regard are part of “cyber Iranophobia” and aims to lay the ground for hostile cyber and non-cyber moves against Iran. 

“The National Center for Cyberspace assesses this move to be within the framework of cooking up a scenario with the purpose of tarnishing the country’s international image, exerting pressure, justifying and laying the groundwork for cruel and illegal unilateral measures [against Iran]. It considers such measures as a politicized trend based on fabricated allegations,” the NCC statement added. 

It also said that Iran is among the biggest victims of cyberattacks aiming to disrupt services to the public. According to the NCC, such cyberattacks have taken place against Iranian institutions such as the fuel distribution network, ports and railway systems, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), municipality management systems, and nuclear facilities.

“While we have witnessed heavy political and media propaganda after leveling baseless allegations [against Iran], we witnessed deadly silence on the part of claimants with regard to destructive cyber incidents and attacks against the vital infrastructures of the independent countries,” the NCC statement said. 

Iran has strongly rejected the allegations concerning Albania. Head of Iran’s mission to the UN Amir, Saeid Iravani, also sent a letter the UN secretary-general and the president of the UN Security Council about the Albania cyberattack on September 10. 

Following is the text of the letter: 

Upon instructions from my Government and in response to the letter dated 7 September 2022 (S/2022/677) from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Albania to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council and the Secretary-General, in which my country was falsely accused of a cyberattack, and the Republic of Albania declared its unilateral termination of diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran as a result of this  unsubstantiated accusation, I would like to bring the following to your attention:
1- The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects and denounces any kind of unwarranted attribution for the alleged cyber-attack on Albania's infrastructure; the accusations leveled against it in the letter are completely unfounded and are hereby rejected and condemned.

2- Such fictitious and false claims are based on fabrications and wrong assumptions leveled only for political agendas. Furthermore, given the nature and technical characteristics of cyberspace and the challenges of attribution in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment, Iran warns of the negative consequences of falsified and forged attribution to the States.

3- The Islamic Republic of Iran reiterates once again its persistent position that cyberspace and the ICT environment must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and that States must act cooperatively and in full compliance with applicable international law. In view of this, Iran has been actively participating in the relevant intergovernmental negotiation processes under the auspices of the United Nations in the interest of the rights of and establishing adequate responsibilities for all,” the letter said.

4- The Islamic Republic of Iran has long been the primary target and the main victim of cyberattacks against its vital infrastructure, which have disrupted the delivery of public services and governmental functions. Attacks by Stuxnet on Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities and Duqu, as well as recent attacks on industrial infrastructures, such as steel and petrochemical industries, gas stations as well as municipal public services systems, are a few examples of these cyber-attacks. The Israeli regime has repeatedly admitted its involvement in these internationally wrongful acts using the ICT environment, which has received unwavering US support.

5- The so-called “Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization” (MKO), is a terrorist organization, currently located in Albania, which has martyred numerous Iranian officials and civilians through bombings and assassinations and since 1981 has claimed the lives of almost 17,000 Iranian citizens. This Israeli- US-backed terrorist organization is continuously planning and carrying out cyberattacks on other countries' infrastructure, knowingly within Albania territory. The MKO has already carried out several cyber-terrorist attacks against Iran's critical infrastructure, with the assistance and support of certain States. With the potential technology they have been provided with, they can now carry out different techniques in order to attribute cyberattacks to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

6- While warning against any provocative and unwarranted measure taken under the guise of alleged claims, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its inherent right to respond, in accordance with international law and the United Nations Charter, to any threat, attack, or wrongful act that targets its interests, critical and civilian infrastructure, decisively and proportionately and whenever it deems necessary.

7- Despite the Republic of Albania's hasty, unwarranted, and unilateral decision to sever its diplomatic relations, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in good faith, stands ready to cooperate and engage constructively to clarify the unfounded accusations leveled against Iran.

8- Furthermore, following the unilateral termination of bilateral diplomatic relations by the Albanian Government on September 7, 2022, the police forces of the Republic of Albania breached the obligations under international law and used force for entering Iran's diplomatic missions in Tirana, without Iran’s consent. While strongly condemning such unlawful acts, the Islamic Republic of Iran re-emphasizes that such intrusion is a flagrant violation of international law, specifically the principle of inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises, as well as States' obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which required all States to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises from any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity and any attack on diplomatic premises, agents and consular officers.