Washington:
A US grand jury has indicted three Iranians on charges related to the hacking and cyber-espionage of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign. The indictment comes amid growing concerns about meddling in the US election by Iran, China and Russia.
Federal prosecutors in the United States today filed criminal charges in the case. The hackers allegedly targeted members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
The three suspects allegedly conspired with several other hackers to carry out “a years-long, wide-ranging hacking operation on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
The charges relate to a top-secret Iranian cyber-espionage operation that allegedly stole important documents related to Donald Trump’s campaign. These hackers are also said to have sent these details to several journalists and key individuals associated with US President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. That was before President Joe Biden stepped down and nominated his replacement, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“The defendants’ own words make it clear that they sought to undermine former President Trump’s campaign ahead of the 2024 US presidential election,” Mr Garland said.
Court documents reveal that the hackers “prepared and participated in a large-scale hacking campaign.” These include methods such as phishing and social engineering techniques to compromise the accounts of several US government officials and individuals associated with political campaigns.
A Microsoft report last month said “Iranian hackers sent a phishing email in June 2024 to a senior official in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.” In the same month, Google’s cybersecurity department said that “hackers from Iran also tried to break into President Joe Biden’s campaign.”
“The message from the US government is clear: the American people, not a foreign power, decide the outcome of our country’s elections,” Mr. Garland said.
Details of how successful those hacking attempts were, which employees were targeted and the extent of the breach have not been disclosed by the investigating agencies.
The United States Intelligence Community, or IC, said earlier this month that “Foreign actors are increasing their activities to influence elections as November approaches. Our assessments of the activities of Russia, Iran and China have not changed since our last update.”
Today’s indictment is the latest in a series of federal indictments against foreign hackers that have targeted government agencies and individuals.
Donald Trump’s history with Iran goes back a long way. During his campaign for the 2024 presidential election, Mr Trump claimed that US intelligence agencies had told him that Tehran had planned to kill him.
Senior security officials in the United States believe Iran has been plotting for years to assassinate Donald Trump, seeking revenge for the 2020 killing of Iran’s then-top general Qassem Soleimani, who was one of the country’s most powerful figures.
HOW DANGEROUS IS THE “THREAT FROM IRAN”
The attorney general noted that “there are few actors in this world that pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran.”
Court documents reveal that the planning of these hacking attempts was planned as far back as 2020. They also state that in May of that year, hackers began targeting and gaining illegal access to personal accounts of individuals associated with the presidential campaign in the USA.
The US Treasury also took decisive action in the case, imposing sanctions on seven Iranians, including Masoud Jalili, who was among the three hackers who were indicted today.
The United States Treasury Department “remains strongly committed to holding accountable those who seek to undermine our institutions,” said Bradley Smith, the current Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
In addition to Jalili, the Treasury Department also sanctioned six employees and executives of Iranian cybersecurity firm Emennet Pasargad. “Between approximately August and November 2020, Emenet Pasargad led an online operation to intimidate and influence American voters, as well as to undermine voter confidence and sow discord,” the Treasury Department said.
RUSSIAN AND CHINESE “INTERFERENCE”
The US has also accused Russia and China of meddling in the US presidential election, charges which Russia and China have denied. While Donald Trump’s campaign claims that Vladimir Putin openly supports Kamala Harris, based on his remarks in a television interview, the US government claims that the Russian media is trying to influence the American electorate.
China, he argues, also intervenes based on who it thinks would be better suited to its own global agenda. Both Moscow and Beijing have denied the allegations.
The US has accused the Chinese government of direct interference in US domestic affairs, as Beijing has reportedly made repeated and ongoing attempts to polarize Americans based on domestic issues ahead of the US election. Beijing has also been accused of targeting candidates and parties.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in April this year that the US had evidence of China’s attempts to “influence and possibly interfere” in US elections.
