Albanian parliament designates Iran a state sponsor of terrorism, declares Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group

Albania’s parliament has adopted a resolution designating Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and declaring Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, a step taken amid an ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic. Taulant Balla, head of the governing Socialist parliamentary group, said the measure was not an abstract foreign policy stance.

“For Albania, this is not just a distant geopolitical issue,” he said, adding that the resolution seeks to denounce state support for terrorism, the use of proxy groups for destabilization, and hybrid tactics including cyberattacks targeting sovereign institutions.

Israel welcomed the decision. The office of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called it “a clear moral dimension in Albania’s foreign policy” and said the vote followed an appeal by Sa’ar to Albanian Foreign Minister Igli Hasani last week. Sa’ar has repeatedly urged the international community to cut ties with Iran since the aerial assault began over two weeks ago.

The move builds on already strained relations between Tirana and Tehran. Albania severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2022, after blaming it for a cyberattack that disrupted government information technology systems and shut down online public services for several days.

With the new resolution, Albania aligns its stance with calls from Israeli officials for tougher measures against Tehran, while evoking its own experience with cyber intrusions. It was not immediately clear what additional steps might follow the parliamentary designation.