It is the latest effort by US officials to limit the impact of Iran’s hacking, which analysts say Tehran views as an asymmetric tool to project power and pursue political goals. Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security was behind the hacking of the Albanian government in July, according to the Treasury Department, an incident that shocked the NATO country and which the White House condemned. Albania has said it is cutting diplomatic ties with Iran in response to what may be the first case of piracy to sever ties between the countries. In separate statements, Brian Nelson, the Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, described Iranian hacking as “increasingly aggressive,” while Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken warned that Tehran’s cyber activities “may cause serious damage’ to ‘civil government agencies’. and critical infrastructure sectors’. FBI Director Christopher Wray in June blamed Iranian government-backed hackers for an attempted hack at Boston Children’s Hospital a year ago, a charge Tehran denied. Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The sanctions come a week after U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant released details of alleged hacking campaigns linked to another Iranian government entity — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — that targeted U.S. government officials focused on Iranian politics and Iranian dissidents. . The hackers appear to have played a key role in the IRGC’s espionage efforts and crackdown, targeting the cellphones and email accounts of Iranian activists and the email accounts of American officials, Mandiant said. US prosecutors have unsealed the indictment of an IRGC member for his alleged role in a plot to assassinate former US national security adviser John Bolton. The Biden administration has sought to revive a 2015 deal with Iran to put limits on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But Iran’s latest response to US proposals for a deal “sets us back,” Blinken said on Friday.
