Protests in Albania over a proposed luxury resort linked to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have unexpectedly morphed into a very public brawl between Albania and Iran.
Thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets in recent days to protest the start of construction for the $1.6 billion resort in a once-protected flamingo wetland made possible after the government fast-tracked building permits and updated environmental laws to allow five-star hotels in protected zones.
Amid the unrest -- dubbed the Flamingo Revolution for the pink birds that flock to the remote stretch of Balkan coast -- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama fired the first shot, accusing Tehran of being involved in a "hybrid war" of disinformation by amplifying a conspiracy theory: that the resort is actually a cover to resettle Palestinians from Gaza onto Albanian soil.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei fired back on X, telling Rama to "calm down," accusing him of selling out Albania's sovereignty -- and quoting Albanian protest slogans such as "No to corruption" and "Rama goes" in their original language.
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Why Iran And Albania Are At Each Other's Throats
Rama, who has defended the project and says the concerns expressed by the demonstrators were based on "misinformation and false reports," subsequently responded that an Iranian government spokesman quoting Albanian opposition slogans calling for his overthrow had proven his point.
"In Albania, people are free to protest against their government, criticize their prime minister, seek justice, and call for elections without fear of imprisonment," Rama wrote on X platform on June 10.
"Can the same be said for the people on whose behalf you claim to speak?" he asked, addressing Baqaei, who shot back that Rama should "calm down" and "show some respect for the intelligence and judgement of your own people."
Environmentalists warn the high-end hotels, villas, and infrastructure on Sazan Island, a former military base and protected ecological site, will cause irreversible damage to protected wetlands.
The developer, the US firm Affinity Partners, which is owned by Kushner, says it respects the legal process.
But the spat between Tehran and Tirana runs far deeper than one protest movement over the state of a nature reserve.
In 2014, with US backing, Albania granted safe haven to thousands of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an exiled Iranian opposition group that set up a fortified compound near Durres. Tehran considers the MEK a terrorist organization and has never forgiven Albania for taking them in.
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Iran Has Carried Out Nearly 30 Political Executions Since Start Of US-Israel WarThe breaking point came in 2022, when Iran-linked hackers launched devastating cyberattacks against Albanian state infrastructure. Rama cut diplomatic ties with Tehran -- the first time any country had ever done so over a cyberattack.
So when protests erupted and a conspiracy theory began circulating in social media that Albania was being sold out to resettle Palestinians, Rama saw a familiar playbook repeating itself.
Albanian analysts largely agree the protests are genuine and homegrown, but they warn that external actors, Iran among them, now have every interest in keeping the fire burning as the demonstrations have grown into a serious challenge to Rama's decade-plus grip on power.
The European Union, which Albania aspires to join, has taken note of the unrest and has urged Tirana to ensure its environmental legislation aligns with the bloc.
"Albania should refrain from action that could undermine the fulfilment of the closing benchmark, and we expect the Albanian authorities to act without delay," European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier said this week.