Written by Costas Pitas and Kanishka Singh
Iranian hackers sent emails containing stolen material from former Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign to people involved in then-Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, U.S. agencies said on Wednesday, part of an alleged broader effort by Tehran to influence the U.S. election.
“Furthermore, Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public materials related to former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations,” the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement.
“This malicious cyber activity is the latest example of Iran’s multi-pronged approach… to foment discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process,” the agencies said.
They added that there is no information yet indicating the response of these recipients, and they did not provide further details about the nature of the stolen materials.
In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of US presidential candidates and targeting the American public with influence operations aimed at inflaming political discord.
Iran has denied interfering in US affairs.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said on Wednesday that the latest US accusations were “completely baseless and completely unacceptable.” It added: “Iran has no motive or intention to interfere in the US elections.”
The agencies said malicious actors sent spam emails to individuals in the Biden campaign in late June and early July containing text snippets of material stolen from the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign.
Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. Polls show Trump and Harris in a close race.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said Harris and Biden should disclose whether they used the hacked material to “hurt” Trump. The former president later said at a rally Wednesday night that Iran hacked his campaign to help Democrats, calling it foreign election interference.
“We are not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign,” a Harris campaign spokesperson said after the statement was released by US agencies. “A small number of individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what appears to be a spam or phishing attempt.”
Tehran also says Washington has interfered in its affairs for decades, from a 1953 coup against a prime minister to the 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.