A coalition linked to Iranian opposition the People's Mojahedin (MEK) has described as “shameless” US support for Albania after local security forces conducted a controversial raid on the group on Tuesday.
Albania's Special Court Against Crime and Corruption conducted the raid over concerns that the MEK had been involved in terror and cyber attacks.
The MEK says that a man named Ali Mostashari died and more than 100 of its members were wounded at the Ashraf-3 camp near Manze, a small town 30km west of Albania’s capital Tirana.
Albanian authorities have disputed that the raid caused the man's death and have said that both police officers and Iranian dissidents were injured.
The US State Department said on Tuesday that it supported Albania's right to investigate any potentially illegal activities within its territory and had “serious concerns” about the MEK, which advocates the overthrow of the Iranian regime.
“The US doesn't see MEK as a viable democratic opposition movement that is representative of Iranian people,” it said.
On Wednesday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition that includes the MEK, criticised the US for questioning its legitimacy.
The US lacks “the authority to decide who represents the Iranian people”, said the NCRI, which wants the overthrow of Iran's current leadership.
“The responsibility for determining who represents the Iranian people rests with the Iranian people themselves in a free election within a democratic republic,” it said.
The MEK was listed as a terror organisation by the US between 1997 and 2012 and the EU between 2002 and 2009. It was delisted after intense lobbying by the group.
The NCRI accused Albania's Ministry of Interior of dismissing “abundant evidence available in Albanian media, social networks and international media, including photos and videos documenting the incident”.
It also said that police had initially positioned two machine guns aimed at the complex.
The National has contacted the NCRI for evidence linking Mostashari's death to the raid.
Albanian authorities seized 150 computers allegedly linked to prohibited political activities during the raid.
Albanian Interior Minister Bledi Cuci and national police head Muhamet Rrumbullaku referred questions about the alleged violations to prosecutors, saying police were only carrying out a court order to seize evidence.
The agreement the government signed with the MEK when Albania agreed to shelter members of the group in 2013 states that they cannot to engage in any political activity and must abide by the country's laws.
About 2,500 Iranian exiles who were initially housed in separate locations built the Ashraf-3 camp in 2019. It consists of 127 buildings in an area of 40 hectares, which Mr Rrumbullaku says is Albanian territory.
Some camp residents tried to block the police officers who moved in to seize the computers kept in 17 buildings and their leaders did not co-operate, Mr Rrumbullaku said.
Fifteen officers were injured after they used pepper spray used to defend themselves, with 21 Ashraf-3 residents requiring hospital treatment.
Mr Cuci said he was “indignant and offended” by the reception police received.
The MEK began as a Marxist group opposed to the rule of Iran's then-shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution but soon fell out with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and turned against his clerical government, carrying out a series of assassinations and bombings.
MEK members later fled into Iraq and backed Saddam Hussein during his eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, leading many people in Iran to oppose the group. Although now largely based in Albania, the group claims to operate a network inside Iran.
Ties between Iran and Albania have been tense since Albania gave MEK members a safe haven a decade ago.
Albania suffered a cyberattack last year that the government and multinational technology companies blamed on the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The attack led the government to suspend diplomatic relations with Iran.
Tehran denied it was behind the attack and claimed Iran has suffered cyberattacks from the MEK.
The US, Nato and the EU supported Nato member Albania in the dispute, with Washington vowing unspecified retaliation against Iran for what it called “a troubling precedent for cyberspace”.
Agencies contributed to this report
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
