Three Iranian operatives were charged with hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign as part of what the Justice Department says was a sweeping effort to undermine the former president and erode confidence in the U.S. electoral system, the Associated Press reports. The action, coupled with sanctions and rewards for information leading to the accused hackers’ capture, is the latest U.S. effort to call out Iran’s attempts to interfere in the election by damaging Trump and sowing general chaos. Iran has been accused of threatening the lives of Trump and former officials. U.S.-Iran relations remain tense, with Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon
The three accused hackers were employed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Since 2020, their operation has sought to compromise email accounts of a broad swath of targets, which includes a former ambassador to Israel, a former CIA deputy director, officials at the State and Defense departments, a former U.S. homeland security adviser and journalists. In May, prosecutors say, the defendants began trying to penetrate the Trump campaign, successfully breaking into the email accounts of campaign officials and Trump allies. They sought to “weaponize” the stolen campaign material by spreading it to media organizations and people associated with President Biden’s campaign, known as a “hack-and-leak” operation. “The defendants’ own words make clear that they were attempting to undermine former President Trump’s campaign in advance of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. We know that Iran is continuing with its brazen efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the U.S. electoral process and advance its malign activities,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. U.S. intelligence officials have said Iran opposes Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran.
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