He also criticised protesters and dismissed claims denying external involvement, describing the demonstrations as a “bio protest” by those concerned about the project.

Rama said that, in such cases, external actors intervene by exploiting citizens’ concerns.

He added that countries which interfere in the affairs of other states do so by taking advantage of genuine protests, distress, anxieties, and public concerns, which he also described as “genuine alarms,” before acting according to their own objectives.

Rama said it is impossible to deny what he described as Iran’s involvement in attempts to influence developments in Albania.

He said that one would have to be “an idiot” to deny the active involvement of what he described as a hostile country, which he called the only enemy state Albania has, adding that this was not a designation chosen by Albania but due to what he said were attempts to disable the country’s digital infrastructure investment.

PM added that, in his view, the Iranian side itself had demonstrated involvement.

He said that one would have to be, in his words, “an idiot” to claim that Iran had no involvement, referring to what he said was a post written in Albanian by an Iranian government spokesperson.

He also underlined that the risk is not limited to direct interference, but also includes the use of digital platforms to distort reality.

 /j.p/sm/