In a joint statement released on Monday, the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reported that they had observed increasingly aggressive actions by Iran during this election cycle.
These activities specifically involved influence operations targeting the American public and cyber activities aimed at presidential campaigns. The statement highlighted recent attempts to compromise former President Trump's campaign, which the intelligence community attributes to Iran.
Earlier in the month, the Trump campaign accused Iran of hacking one of its websites, although Trump noted that only publicly available information was accessed. The U.S. agencies also indicated that Iran had targeted Harris' campaign, who is expected to accept the Democratic Party's presidential nomination later this week.
In response, Iran's mission to the United Nations dismissed the allegations as "unsubstantiated and without merit," challenging the U.S. to provide evidence. Iran reiterated that it has neither the intention nor the motive to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.
The U.S. intelligence community expressed confidence that Iranian operatives, using social engineering and other tactics, sought to gain access to individuals directly connected to both presidential campaigns. These activities, according to the statement, were intended to influence the U.S. election process, although specific details on the nature of the stolen information were not provided.
As the U.S. nears its November 5 election, Google reported that hackers linked to Iran were targeting both Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns. The hacker group APT42, associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was identified by Google as targeting high-profile individuals and organizations in the United States and Israel, including government officials and political campaigns.
This new wave of hacking accusations comes during a period of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, particularly with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza. However, the U.S. agencies did not detail how they attributed these activities to Iran or the nature of any information that might have been compromised from the Trump campaign.
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