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Iranian Diplomats Leave Embassy in Albania after Expulsion

A policeman stands guard outside the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday Sept. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)
A policeman stands guard outside the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday Sept. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)
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Iranian Diplomats Leave Embassy in Albania after Expulsion

A policeman stands guard outside the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday Sept. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)
A policeman stands guard outside the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, Albania, Wednesday Sept. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)

The last staff of the Iranian Embassy in Tirana left the building Thursday after they were given 24 hours to leave Albania over a major cyberattack that the Albanian government blames on Iran.

The final two embassy cars with about 10 passengers left the compound Thursday near noon after much movement inside the building overnight.

Albanian special police forces and officers were seen surrounding the compound, which still flew the Iranian flag, immediately after the Iranians left.

Movement inside the Iranian embassy in Tirana had been nonstop overnight. An empty barrel was seen taken into the compound and later a fire was started in it, apparently burning documents, The Associated Press reported.

Reuters also said that a witness saw a man from inside the embassy throwing papers in a rusted barrel, with flames illuminating the walls of the three-story embassy.

A diplomatic car went in and out, while an Albanian police officer communicated with the embassy before two officers entered and left after a few minutes.

On July 15, a cyberattack temporarily shut down numerous Albanian government digital services and websites. Prime Minister Edi Rama said Wednesday that there was “undeniable evidence” that the Iranian government was behind the attack.

Albanian counter-terrorism police searched the empty Iranian embassy later on Thursday.

The police, wearing masks and helmets and carrying automatic rifles, entered the building - situated just 200 meters from Rama's office.

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Iran Is ‘Pressing the Gas Pedal’ on Uranium Enrichment, IAEA Chief Says 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)
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Iran Is ‘Pressing the Gas Pedal’ on Uranium Enrichment, IAEA Chief Says 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)

Iran is "pressing the gas pedal" on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday, adding that Iran's recently announced acceleration in enrichment was starting to take effect.

Grossi said last month that Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would "dramatically" accelerate enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, closer to the roughly 90% of weapons grade.

Western powers called the step a serious escalation and said there was no civil justification for enriching to that level and that no other country had done so without producing nuclear weapons. Iran has said its program is entirely peaceful and it has the right to enrich uranium to any level it wants.

"Before it was (producing) more or less seven kilograms (of uranium enriched to up to 60%) per month, now it's above 30 or more than that. So I think this is a clear indication of an acceleration. They are pressing the gas pedal," Grossi told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency yardstick, about 42 kg of uranium enriched to that level is enough in principle, if enriched further, for one nuclear bomb. Grossi said Iran currently had about 200 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60%.

Still, he said it would take time to install and bring online the extra centrifuges - machines that enrich uranium - but that the acceleration was starting to happen.

"We are going to start seeing steady increases from now," he said.

Grossi has called for diplomacy between Iran and the administration of new US President Donald Trump, who in his first term, pulled the United States out of a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that had imposed strict limits on Iran's atomic activities. That deal has since unraveled.

"One can gather from the first statements from President Trump and some others in the new administration that there is a disposition, so to speak, to have a conversation and perhaps move into some form of an agreement," he said.

Separately, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at Davos that Iran must make a first step towards improving relations with countries in the region and the United States by making it clear it does not aim to develop nuclear weapons.