Washington, Aug 12: Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it has been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents.The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in the US campaign in 2024.
It cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending âa spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.â
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on âforeign sources hostile to the United States.â A spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement that it takes any report of improper foreign interference âextremely seriouslyâ and condemns any government or entity that attempts to undermine confidence in US democratic institutions, but said it deferred to the Justice Department on this matter.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved. âWe do not accord any credence to such reports,â the mission told The Associated Press. âThe Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.â
However, Iran long has been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also long has threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The US Justice Department this past week unsealed criminal charges against a Pakistani national with ties to Iran alleged to have plotted assassination attempts against political figures in the United States, including potentially Trump, and to have sought to hire purported hitmen who were actually undercover law enforcement officials. Court documents in that case pointedly noted a desire by Iran to conduct operations against perceived enemies of the regime and to avenge the killing of Soleimani.