20/8/2024–|Last update: 8/20/202403:42 AM (Makkah Time)
The United States accused Iran on Monday of launching cyberattacks on the campaigns of Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris and targeting Americans with influence campaigns aimed at inflaming political discord. Iran denied the accusations, saying they were baseless.
“We are confident that the Iranians sought to reach individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both parties,” said a statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which oversees the defense of government computer systems. “Such activities, including theft and dissemination, are intended to influence the current U.S. presidential election process.”
The statement confirmed accusations made by the Trump campaign on August 10 that Iran had hacked one of its websites, prompting the FBI to investigate.
The Republican candidate’s campaign accused Iran of being behind the hacking and subsequent leak of documents related to background checks on Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. The campaign warned the media against using the documents, saying such work would serve “America’s enemies.”
At the time, Trump said Iran “only had access to publicly available information.”
The tone of the campaign was different from that of 2016, when Trump expressed at a news conference his hope that Russia would “find” Hillary Clinton’s emails, comments that were seen as encouraging Moscow to carry out further hacks of his rival.
US intelligence had concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections to support Trump, but the latter rejected this conclusion.
The US intelligence services confirmed in their statement that Iran also targeted the campaign of Kamala Harris, the Vice President, who is expected to formally accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency at this week’s convention.
The statement added that the relevant agencies that pursue these activities will not tolerate foreign efforts to influence elections and target American political campaigns.
Iranian denial
Iran’s mission to the United Nations issued a statement describing the allegations as “baseless.”
The mission noted that Iran has no intention or desire to tamper with the US presidential election, and challenged the US government to send it relevant evidence, if any.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/norwegian-epic-tout-122724-40486d577aa440dd8d18e6f07ba9fac0.jpg "Search Suspended for Norwegian Cruise Line Passenger Who Went Overboard")
