IRANIAN hackers sent emails containing materials from the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to people involved in the Democratic campaign, in what the US says is part of Tehran’s efforts to influence the election.
“Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen and unpublished materials related to former President Trump’s campaign to US media organizations,” said a joint statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as reported by Al Jazeera.
“This malicious cyber activity is the latest example of Iran’s multi-pronged approach to sow discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process,” the agencies said.
There is currently no information indicating that the recipients of the emails responded. They did not provide further details about the nature of the allegedly stolen campaign materials.
The hacker is believed to have sent emails to individuals involved in the Biden campaign in late June and early July containing excerpts of text from Republican campaign materials.
In August, the US also accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both candidates and targeting people in the US with influence operations aimed at fomenting political discord.
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Iran, on the other hand, denies interfering in US internal affairs. Iran’s permanent mission to the UN in New York said the latest US accusations were baseless and unacceptable.
“Iran has no motive or intention to interfere in the US elections,” the Iranian statement said.
Tehran has hit back at the US, accusing it of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs for decades, from the 1953 prime ministerial coup to the 2020 assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
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Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said the latest allegations were further evidence that Iran was actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. The Trump camp said Iran was worried about potential U.S. sanctions.
“Kamala and Biden need to come clean about whether they used hacked material given to them by Iran to hurt President Trump. What did they know and when did they know it?” he said.
A Harris campaign spokesperson said they were not aware of any materials being sent directly to the campaign.
“Some people have had their personal emails targeted with what appear to be spam or phishing attempts,” he said. (Z-6)
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