US imposes new sanctions on Iran over Albanian cyberattack

The Biden administration has imposed new sanctions on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security over what it called “malign cyber activities” as the two countries struggle to find a way back into the 2015 nuclear deal.

The United States Treasury Department said on Friday that the sanctions were in response to a July cyberattack that disrupted government websites in Albania, which Washington and Tirana blamed on Tehran.

“Iran’s cyber attack against Albania disregards norms of responsible peacetime State behavior in cyberspace, which includes a norm on refraining from damaging critical infrastructure that provides services to the public,” Treasury official Brian Nelson said in a statement.

“We will not tolerate Iran’s increasingly aggressive cyber activities targeting the United States or our allies and partners.”

The July cyberattack has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Albania and Iran, which has rejected the allegations it was responsible for the incident as “baseless”.