United States Accuses Iran of Cyber ​​Operation Targeting Donald Trump, Kamala Harris

Illustration. (Unsplash/freestocks)

JAKARTA - The United States on Monday accused Iran of launching a cyber operation against the campaigns of two presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, targeting the American public with influence operations aimed at fomenting political discord.

"We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle," said a statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which oversees the defense of government computer systems, reported by Reuters on August 20.

The statement confirmed allegations made earlier this month by Republican presidential candidate Trump that Iran hacked one of his websites, triggering an FBI investigation.

At the time, Trump said Iran was "only able to obtain publicly available information."

Iran, the US statement said, has also targeted the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who will formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination at this week's convention.

The US statement said Iran had conducted influence operations targeting the American public in an effort to foment political discord and "cyber operations targeting the presidential campaign."

"This includes recently reported activity to compromise former President Trump's campaign, which the IC (intelligence community) has attributed to Iran," it continued.

It said the intelligence community believes Iranian agents used social engineering and other means to "seek access to individuals with direct access to presidential campaigns of both parties," the statement said.

The activities included theft and disclosure "intended to influence the US election process," the statement added, without elaborating.

Separately, Iran's mission to the United Nations issued a statement calling the allegations "baseless and devoid of any legal basis. As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention or motive to interfere in the US presidential election."