Aborted Pilgrimage To Iraq Embarrasses Iranian Government

The United States Treasury Department Friday sanctioned Iran’s intelligence ministry and intelligence minister Esmail Khatib for alleged cyber operations against the US and its allies.

The sanctions were announced two days after Albania, a NATO member since 2009, broke off diplomatic relations with Iran alleging that Tehran was behind the disruption of Albanian government computer systems in mid-July.

“The US immediate support for Albania’s baseless accusation against Iran and Washington’s prompt action to repeat sanctions relying on the undocumented accusation against the Ministry of Intelligence indicate clearly that the maker of the scenario is not the Albanian government but the American administration,” the spokesman said.

Kanaani accused the United States of forcing Albania to host a “known terrorist cult”, MEK, on the government and people of Albania.

Kanaani added that the Islamic Republic would do everything within the framework of international laws to “fulfil the rights of its people and defend itself against sinister plots.”

In a new blog post September 8, Microsoft said its Security Threat Intelligence has assessed that the perpetrators of the cyberattack on Albania were a subgroup of Iranian threat actors.

“Microsoft assessed with high confidence that on July 15, 2022, actors sponsored by the Iranian government conducted a destructive cyberattack against the Albanian government, disrupting government websites and public services,” adding that Microsoft security intelligence assesses that a separate Iranian state-sponsored actor leaked sensitive information that had been exfiltrated months earlier through various websites and social media outlets.

“Microsoft assessed with moderate confidence that the actors involved in gaining initial access and exfiltrating data in the attack are linked to EUROPIUM, which has been publicly linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS),” Microsoft said.

According to Microsoft, attackers were observed operating out of Iran and used tools and a wiper code previously used by other known Iranian attackers with a history of targeting other sectors and countries that are consistent with Iranian interests.

The messaging and target selection, according to Microsoft, indicate Tehran likely used the attacks as retaliation for cyberattacks it perceives were carried out by Israel and the MEK. The cyberattacks on Albania “closely mirrored the messaging used in cyberattacks against Iran, a common tactic of Iranian foreign policy suggesting an intent to signal the attack as a form of retaliation.”

“The messages in the information operations also emphasized targeting of corrupt government politicians and their support for terrorists and an interest in not harming the Albanian people. Similarly, the attack on Iranian steel companies claimed to target the steel factories for their connections to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while avoiding harm to Iranians.”

Iran's state radio and television channels, government organizations, and infrastructures including the railway and fuel distribution systems, and prison security camerashave also been targeted by hacker groups in the past two years.

The television hacking in January included the appearance of supportive images of MEK leaders but MEK denied any involvement in the incident.

The representative of the northern city of Gorgan at the parliament, Ramezan-Ali Sangdavini, said on Saturday that the government's mismanagement is "evident" in the incidents during the Arbaeen ceremony, blaming authorities, the interior ministry in particular, for the mishaps and mayhem. 

Earlier in the day, a commander of Iran-backed Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, claimed that the group thwarted a "terrorist plan to target the pilgrims in the city of Karbala." He did not provide any details about the attack or attackers. 

The Iranian pilgrims, who had planned to visit Karbala in recent days, have faced other problems, such as a lack of means for transportation, that made them stay behind the borders for long hours, and lack of facilities and accommodation, which made them sleep on the streets. 

The hot weather also left tens of thousands of people dehydrated and in need of medical care. Iran’s Red Crescent Society said Friday that at least nine people have died and about 10,000 people have been referred to healthcare stations with signs of heatstroke. 

On Friday, Iraq and Iran closed land borders citing “worrying and serious dangerous incidents at two border crossings” as the reason.

According to the Guardian on Saturday, Sarah Shourd, her ex-husband and fellow journalist Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal were detained by Iranian security forces while hiking along Iraqi border in 2009 have filed a lawsuit overseen by federal judge Richard Leon in Washington, the same judge who in 2019 ordered Iran to pay Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian $180 million for imprisoning him for more than a year on false espionage charges.

Any damages that the trio and their families might receive through their lawsuit would come out of Iranian government assets seized by the US due to sanctions, as part of the congressional Justice for Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

The lawsuit said Shourd and Bauer moved to Yemen and then Syria in 2008 while dating because they wanted to continue practicing their Arabic language skills, and Fettel visited them in July of the following year and accompanied them on a hike to a waterfall in Iraqi Kurdistan, during which they apparently crossed into the Iranian territory without realizing it.

Iran let Shourd free in September 2010, describing her release as an act of clemency honoring the end of Ramadan after the intervention of the-then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bauer and Fattal were released a year later, presumably as a gesture meant to curry favor for Ahmadinejad as he was about to fly to New York to attend a United Nations general assembly meeting.

An empty chair stood in for Panahi during the screening of "No Bears," a movie about two parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by the forces of superstition and mechanics of power.

Panahi, who has made several award-winning movies, including "The Circle", "The White Balloon" and "Taxi", sent a letter from his prison cell which festival director Alberto Barbara read out this week in a panel on filmmakers in peril. "The work we create is not commissioned (so) some of our governments see us as criminals. Some (directors) were banned from making films, others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence,” read the letter.

In July, Iran’s judiciary said the award-winning film director has been sent to Evin prison to serve his six-year sentence, after he was arrested as he was protesting the detention of two other filmmakers Mostafa Alehahmad and Mohammad Rasoulof at the prosecutor’s office of the Evin prison. Panahi is sentenced to six years in prison – five years for “conspiracy and collusion against national security” and one year for “propaganda against the system.”

The two had been detained on July 8 as part of the Islamic Republic's crackdown on the signatories of a statement titled “Lay down the gun,” which called on military and security forces who “have become tools for cracking down on the people,” not to suppress protesters during popular demonstrations in May. Since then, Iran’s security apparatus is increasing pressure on the signatories to rescind their signatures.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Kurdish rights group, reported on Saturday that the convict, identified as Morteza Jalali, was transferred from another prison to Tehran’s Evin prison for the amputation last week. 

His fingers were cut off with a guillotine-like device that the prison recently acquired at the infirmary of the detention center.

Iran has amputated fingers of several prisoners during the past few months while authorities said several cases of amputations for robbery are currently at the execution stage, calling on judges not to hesitate to issue death and amputation sentences.

Late in June, the head of the Iranian association of surgeons, Iraj Fazel, called on the judiciary not to allow the amputation of fingers to punish thieves, describing the practice as "worrying and horrifying."

According to Islamic Sharia law, punishment for theft can be amputation of fingers or hands.

Human rights group Amnesty International said late in July that Iranian authorities must be held accountable for amputating the fingers of prisoners. “These amputations are particularly harrowing displays of the Iranian authorities’ contempt for human rights and dignity,” said Diana Eltahawy, a deputy director of the group.