\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a small, devilish country in Europe where Americans are cooperating with Iranian traitors, plotting against the Islamic Republic.\u201d The statement belongs to the now-deceased supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. It was made on the occasion of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general and commander of the Quds Force, in January 2020 near Baghdad International Airport, by an American drone. The \u201cdevilish country\u201d was none other than Albania.<\/p>\n
The reaction from Albania\u2019s then-president Ilir Meta was quick, responding that Albania is not a devilish country, but a democratic country that has suffered from an unprecedented devilish dictatorship and has come to value human rights as sacred. In the same spirit, current Prime Minister Edi Rama was quick to state that threats do not deter him, as the country, a NATO member, is protected.<\/p>\n
But how and why does Iran threaten a small country at the southeastern tip of Europe?\u00a0<\/p>\n
An unknown war has been raging for years between the mullahs of Tehran and Albania over the presence of 3,000 members of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) \u2013 also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq \u2013 an anti-regime group which Tehran has classified as \u201cenemy terrorists.\u201d These days, with the ongoing hostilities in the Gulf, Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard are reporting that structures abroad related to hostile activities will be targeted, with MEK being at the focus.<\/p>\n
A cyberattack against the Albanian parliament\u2019s computer systems on March 10 by Iran-linked hackers raised concerns that the \u201cdevilish country\u201d in Europe could become a target, not of missiles and drones, but of asymmetric attacks by \u201clone wolves\u201d and digital terrorists.<\/p>\n
The simmering conflict eventually boiled over in a complete collapse of relations between the two countries, with expulsions of diplomats, closures of embassies, cyberattacks and threats, which continues to this day. This is why Rama, with the outbreak of the war in Iran, openly sided with the United States and Israel, stating, among other things: \u201cAlbania has faced firsthand the barbaric face of the Tehran regime through its cyber aggressions against our country. For us, this is not abstract geopolitics. It is national security, moral and legal clarity,\u201d he said in February, while former deputy prime minister of Albania and senior associate researcher at the Albanian Institute for International Studies, Genc Pollo, stated that the Tehran regime \u201cthreatens not only Israel, America and the Middle East, but also Europe; it threatens Albania as well, and it has shown this in past years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran and Albania had excellent relations during the regimes of Ruhollah Khomeini and Enver Hoxha. Between 2013 and 2016, approximately 3,000 MEK members were relocated to the Ashraf-3 camp, near Durres. \u201cThis relocation took place at the request of the Americans and with the participation of the United Nations,\u201d said Arjan Dyrmishi, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance (CSDG) in Tirana, speaking to Kathimerini. \u201cThe Ashraf-3 camp currently functions as the global headquarters of the MEK, from where various activities are organized, such as the \u2018Free Iran\u2019 global summits or actions to exert pressure on Western capitals. It also coordinates with units inside Iran to conduct demonstrations, digital campaigns through social media, and online propaganda targeting the Iranian regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
The theocratic regime\u2019s interest in a small country like Albania had been evident long before the establishment of the anti-regime \u201cenemy\u201d MEK fighters in the small village of Manze. \u201cAfter the collapse of the communist regime in Albania, Iran sought to use the country as a platform for promoting Shiite Islam in the Balkans, a bridgehead on the European continent. This was facilitated by the favorable relations that had been established with Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, not for religious reasons \u2013 since Albania had closed all religious institutions and declared atheism a decade earlier \u2013 but as a diplomatic move,\u201d says Dyrmishi.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran was then considered by the Hoxha regime as a potential ally against Albania\u2019s declared enemy, the United States. Iranian cultural centers, such as the Saadi Shirazi Cultural Foundation and the Quran Foundation, promoted Persian literature, Shia hermeneutics, and religious ceremonies, particularly targeting the Bektashi community, a tolerant Sufi-Shiite order that comprised 15%-20% of Albanian Muslims. During the Bosnian War, Iran used its embassy and general presence in Albania to exert influence in Bosnia,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough Iran\u2019s long-term policy was to try to export the Islamist revolutionary model to Albania and from there to the Balkans, highlighting the religion of Islam in its own version, its expectations clashed with the spread of Wahhabism [an ultra-conservative movement of the Sunni Islamic doctrine] and the influence of Saudi Arabia, the Sunni Gulf countries and later Turkey. Also \u2013 and this is very important \u2013 substantial penetration was blocked by Albania\u2019s path toward NATO and EU membership, its strongly pro-Western orientation and its secular constitutional character. These factors limited Iran\u2019s influence in the country. The main source of current Iranian threats to Albania does not stem from religious reasons, but from the MEK\u2019s activities against the Iranian regime, and Albania\u2019s support for the US-Israeli alliance,\u201d adds Dyrmishi.<\/p>\n
He explains that the intense anti-regime activities of the mujahideen naturally attracted the interest of the Iranian secret services, which placed their camp in the village of Manze under surveillance, while the Israeli and US secret services also joined the spy game.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the Iranian embassy in Tirana functioned as a support base for Iranian operations in other regions of Europe, the key role of Ambassador Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, suspected of involvement in terrorist operations, was revealed, resulting in the Albanian authorities ultimately expelling him in December 2018,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Although no further clarifications were given by the Albanian side at the time, everyone understood the deportations as being related to the presence of the mujahideen and, according to reports in the Albanian and international press, to planned assassinations of their leaders by the Tehran secret services. Two other Iranians had been expelled as soon as they set foot in Tirana airport, having traveled to Albania under the guise of journalists, but the Albanian authorities, \u201cafter consultations with allied countries,\u201d immediately turned them back as agents of the Iranian secret services, whose aim was to commit assassinations.<\/p>\n
Both the US and Israel welcomed the expulsions, accusing Iran of \u201cdangerous behavior in Europe and across the globe,\u201d while then-US national security advisor John Bolton spoke of \u201cIranian agents who were preparing a terrorist attack in Albania.\u201d Following Khamenei\u2019s targeting of Albania in 2020, the country\u2019s authorities quarantined the MEK camp, fearing a possible attack by Iranian agents.<\/p>\n
In July 2022, a group called Homeland Justice, which according to US and Israeli intelligence agencies is linked to Iran, launched a coordinated cyberattack that hit Albania\u2019s digital government portal, e-Albania, and disrupted the country\u2019s essential services. Both the Americans and the US cybersecurity firm Mandiant attributed the attack to Iranian state hackers, while Rama, citing \u201cindisputable evidence,\u201d severed diplomatic relations with Tehran, expelling all embassy staff within 24 hours.
\u00a0
The war between Tehran and MEK would escalate with cyberattacks from both sides, and in August 2023, the special anti-corruption agency known as SPAK, sent Tirana police to conduct checks on the camp. SPAK\u2019s request referred to \u201csuspicions of a cyberwar between the Iranian government and MEK and, ultimately, Albania is the one in danger.\u201d During the police raid, the mujahideen resisted, resulting in clashes with police forces. One person died and the camp has since been sequestered.
\u00a0
Two years later, in 2025, Iranian hackers launched a new cyberattack, this time neutralizing the services of the Municipality of Tirana. As the Tirana Times noted, this cyberattack comes after Albania \u201cclearly aligned itself with Israel, joining forces with Western allies in condemning Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions and its recent attacks on Israeli targets.\u201d In a post on Telegram, the hackers said, \u201cWe warned you to expel terrorists from your territory, but you welcomed them as legal refugees. Now your leaders are being punished.\u201d
\u00a0
The Albanian authorities, in response to the ongoing war in the Middle East, have isolated the MEK camp, prohibiting entry and exit from it. Their concerns are fueled by the possibility of a hybrid war by Iran with terrorist attacks around the world \u2013 a possibility that also makes Albania a possible target. A news website citing information from Iranian media outlets linked to the theocratic regime reported that Tehran is considering targeting structures it considers to be related to \u201chostile activities,\u201d including the mujahideen of Albania.
\u00a0
Can Iran\u2019s missiles reach Tirana, transferring the Middle East war to Europe? According to former Minister of the Interior and general, Sander Lleshi, \u201ctoday Albania is not threatened by air, but Iran can strike us in other ways. We cannot allow hostile countries to operate freely and openly with their agents on Albanian soil. Albanian intelligence services must provide answers as to how it is possible for Iranian agents to operate freely in Albania.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n