US Accuses Iran Of Launching Cyber Operations Against Trump And Harris Campaigns

Donald Trump's campaign received a cyberattack allegedly from Iran (photo: dock tantrum)

JAKARTA - The United States on Monday, August 19, accused Iran of launching a cyber operation against the campaign of the two US presidential candidates and targeting the American public with influence operations aimed at triggering political divisions.

"We have observed Iran's increasingly aggressive activity during this election cycle," the FBI said, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, which oversees the defense of the government's computer system.

The statement confirmed allegations made earlier this month by Republican presidential candidate campaign Donald Trump that Iran hacked one of its campaign websites, sparking an FBI investigation. At the time, Trump said Iran was only able to access publicly available information.

The US statement also said that Iran had targeted the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who would officially receive a presidential nomination from the Democratic Party at this week's convention.

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

The US statement said Iran had carried out influence operations targeting the American public to trigger political divisions as well as "cyber operations targeting a presidential campaign."

"This includes activities recently reported to compromise the campaign of former President Trump, who according to Iran's intelligence community (IC)."

The intelligence community believes Iranian operators are using social engineering and other ways of "looking for access to individuals who have direct access to presidential campaigns from both parties," the statement said.

These activities include theft and disclosure of information "intended to affect the US election process," he added, without providing further details.