Envoy Refutes Albania, Israel’s Cyber Allegations against Iran

The first counselor and representative of Iran to the United Nations exercised Iran’s right of reply to dismiss the allegations leveled during a UNSC session on cybersecurity.

Sattar Ahmadi categorically rejected the accusations made by Albania and the Israeli regime against Iran.

He was speaking at a UNSC open debate on maintenance of international peace and security, focusing on “Addressing the Evolving Threat in Cyberspace”.

The following is the text of the Iranian envoy’s speech at the event, held in New York on June 20:

Thank you, Mr. President,

I understand that you, Mr. President, had a long meeting today, and I do not intend to take up much of the Council member's time.

However, I requested the further floor because the representatives of Albania and the Israeli regime have misused this Chamber to level unsubstantiated claims against Iran, falsely accusing my country of supporting cyberattacks.

We categorically reject and denounce these baseless claims.

Concerning an unwarranted reference that has been made to Iran in the statement of the representative of Albania, we responded and rejected this false assertion in our letter to the Security Council dated 10 September 2022 (S/2022/685).

We believe the government of Albania was misled by misinformation from a terrorist organization, namely, MKO, and falsely attributed the cyber-attack to Iran.

The MKO, which is currently located in Albania, has already carried out several cyber-terrorist attacks against Iran's critical infrastructure, with the assistance and support of certain States and the Israeli regime.

This terrorist organization has martyred numerous Iranian officials and civilians through terrorist bombings and assassination and since 1981 has claimed the lives of almost 17,000 Iranian citizens.

Despite this fact, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in good faith, extended an offer to the government of Albania to cooperate and engage constructively to clarify the unfounded accusation leveled against Iran, but unfortunately, our request went unanswered.

Regarding the unfounded allegations made by the Israeli regime. We categorically reject these unfounded allegations.

Ironically, a representative of a regime notorious for its malicious, criminal, and terrorist activities in both cyberspace and real space accuses others of the very illegal actions this regime repeatedly commits.

For over nine months, Israel, the occupying regime, has waged a genocidal war and military aggression against defenseless Palestinian people as well as is involved in vicious, and terrorist acts in the region, flagrantly violating all international legal rules, principles, and norms, including international humanitarian law and human rights law.

This regime shamelessly employs every possible means to decimate the vulnerable population, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare, the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, including women and children, the deliberate assault on vital civilian infrastructure, and obstructing the provision of essential humanitarian aid and services to civilians in direct violation of UNSC Resolutions.

In addition, this terrorist regime has a long and dark history of cyber-attacks against the critical infrastructure of sovereign states.

As mentioned in Iran's statement delivered earlier in this Chamber, the Stuxnet and Duqu attacks on Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities are clear examples of Israel's criminal activities and cyberattacks against critical infrastructures.

These criminal actions, which were openly admitted by this regime, demonstrate its involvement in malicious cyber operations.

With its history of egregious violations of basic principles of international law, this regime is in no position to accuse others or lecture on the observance of these principles.

This regime should not go unpunished, and the Security Council must hold it accountable for all the international crimes it has committed and continues to commit.

I thank you.