The President, Vjosa Osmani, has condemned the cyber attack that Iran has made against government websites, including the online service platform e-Albania on July 15.

She wrote on Twitter that they stand with the Albanian government, as she asked Iran to respond to what she called the "unprecedented action".

"We strongly condemn the malicious cyber attack against Albania's critical infrastructure.

We stand with President Bajram Begaj and the Albanian government and call on Iran to answer for this unprecedented action", she writes.

In Albania, the government today accused Iran of being the author of the massive cyber attack that hit its information technology systems on July 15, paralyzing all online services for several days.

Prime Minister Edi Rama announced at noon the decision to cut diplomatic relations with this country "with immediate effect".

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"In cooperation with specialized digital anti-terrorist partner agencies, which brought their teams to Tirana, it was possible to discover first, without any shadow of doubt, that the July 15 attack on Albania was not an operation by individuals or independent groups in the world of organized cyber crime, but a state aggression", declared Prime Minister Edi Rama in a special public appearance.

He explained that "the in-depth investigation provided us with irrefutable evidence that the cyber aggression against our country has been orchestrated and sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has engaged four groups for the attack on Albania.

Among them, one of the most notorious groups of international cyber terrorism, author or co-author of previous cyber attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Emirates, Kuwait and Cyprus.

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The decision to cut off diplomatic relations with Iran was announced by an official note to the embassy in Tirana, which "has been asked to leave the territory of the Republic of Albania within 24 hours of all diplomatic and technical-administrative personnel, including security personnel."

Prime Minister Rama declared that "this extreme measure, not at all desired, but completely forced, is in full proportion to the seriousness and dangerousness of the cyber attack, which threatened to paralyze public services, delete systems and steal state data, steal of electronic communications within the government system and fostering insecurity and chaos in the country".

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The Prime Minister also explained that the government has informed "our strategic allies, NATO partner countries and some other friendly countries, with whom we have also shared the irrefutable results of the investigation that proves the source of the aggression against our country".

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Even earlier, Albania declared undesirable members of the Iranian embassy in Tirana, including its ambassador in 2018, under suspicion of involvement in "activities that harm the security" of the country.

We strongly condemn the malicious cyberattack against Albania's critical infrastructure.

We stand with President @BajramBegajAL and the Albanian government & call on Iran to be held accountable for this unprecedented action.

🇽🇰🇦🇱

— Vjosa Osmani (@VjosaOsmaniPRKS) September 7, 2022