The Iranian Mission to the United Nations dismissed claims that the Islamic Republic was involved in any cyber activity against Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
According to the Mission, Iran does not have any intention to manipulate the US presidential race – and the country’s leadership insists that the United States should provide concrete evidence to support its claims.
Iranian comments came after the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued statements blaming Iran for intensifying its manipulative practices before the US presidential elections.
The joint statement mentioned that these practices also include the recent attack on the Trump campaign, adding that the country is well aware of how the US election results could impact its national interests.
The federal agencies also noted that Iranian operatives have tried to reach presidential campaign officials of both parties. Seeing these types of practices in the US election year is common, with Russia and Iran having a track record of orchestrating these attacks, the agencies added.
A recent Microsoft report also raised concerns that Iranian hackers are trying to “malign” the US presidential elections using various hacking techniques, including phishing and credential stuffing. However, the Microsoft report did not mention any specific presidential campaign that was attacked.
Relations between the US and Iran nosedived during Trump’s first presidential tenure, when the former president pulled the US out of the Obama-era nuclear deal, claiming that the agreement was paving Iran’s path towards a nuclear weapon. These tensions peaked when the US assassinated top Iranian commander Qassem Sulemani in January 2020, and Iran responded by bombing US air bases in Iraq.
Reportedly, Iran also planned to assassinate Trump using a Pakistani operative, who has now been arrested and charged in New York. The alleged assassination attempt was planned to be carried out in late August or early September, but the first failed assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania mobilized federal authorities to take Trump’s security more seriously, which resulted in the arrest of an Iranian-backed Pakistani man.
Over the years, Trump has also slammed the Biden administration for being too soft against Iran and letting the country pursue nuclear weapons unrestricted. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden pledged to reinstate the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, a promise that he has yet to capitalize on. Critics suggest that even in the absence of this deal, Iran has made notable advancements toward strengthening its nuclear capabilities on Biden’s watch.
