(Tehran) Iran on Saturday strongly condemned the decision of the United States to impose new sanctions against its intelligence ministry accused of being responsible for a massive cyberattack that targeted Albania.
Posted at 8:21 a.m.
Albania, a Balkan ally of the United States in NATO, severed its relations with Iran on September 7, which it held responsible for the cyberattacks which aimed in July to destroy the digital infrastructures of its government, but which failed according to Tirana.
The United States, an enemy of Iran, has announced sanctions that mainly target the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and its Minister Esmail Khatib, accusing them of overseeing several cyber espionage and hacking networks around the world.
Iran, for its part, rejected as “unfounded” the accusations on the cyberattacks and called Tirana’s severance of relations a “misguided and reckless” action.
“Foreign Affairs strongly condemns the US Treasury’s decision to re-sanction the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry,” Iranian ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement.
“America’s immediate support for the Albanian government’s false accusation […] shows that the designer of this scenario is not Albania but the American government,” he added.
Mr. Kanani further criticized the United States for having “given its full support to a terrorist sect”, in reference to the People’s Mojahedin, an opposition movement in exile banned in Iran.
Since 2013, Albania has hosted, at the request of the United States and the UN, members of the People’s Mojahedin.
“This criminal organization acts as one of America’s tools in the perpetration of terrorist acts and cyberattacks” against Iran, according to the Iranian spokesman.