Federal prosecutors on Friday announced criminal charges against three Iranian nationals in connection with a recent hack of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign and other cyberattacks.
The three “malicious cyber actors”, who were employed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were involved in “a broad hacking campaign” that also targeted current and former government officials, media figures and non-governmental organizations, according to with an indictment filed. in Washington, D.C., Federal Court.
The US designates the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.
“There are few actors in this world that pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference on Friday.
“The Department of Justice will not tolerate efforts by Iran, or any foreign power, to interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy.”
The 37-page, 18-page indictment charges the three men, Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi, with hacking conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, identity theft and conspiracy to support terrorism.
Their hacking campaign began in January 2020 and involved phishing and other “social engineering techniques,” prosecutors alleged.
In May 2024, the Iranians allegedly gained access to the personal accounts of officials of the Trump campaign, which is described in the indictment as “US Presidential Campaign 1.”
The alleged hackers stole emails and other non-public documents and then tried to leak the material to the media and campaign officials of President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee at the time.
The hack was a deliberate attempt to undermine Trump’s campaign ahead of the 2024 presidential election, prosecutors alleged.
Garland said Friday that the Justice Department has “no evidence” that anyone from the Biden campaign responded when contacted by the alleged hackers. Biden dropped out of the presidential race in mid-July and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, the current Democratic nominee.
The charges come amid increased scrutiny of how foreign actors, especially Iran, China and Russia, are trying to influence the US presidential race.
US intelligence officials said on Monday that these foreign interference efforts include the use of artificial intelligence to spread disinformation and manipulate public opinion, NBC News was mentioned.
Officials have said Iran is working to damage Trump’s campaign, while Russia favors Trump, who has declined to say whether he wants Victory of Ukraine his war against the invading forces of the Kremlin.
China, meanwhile, has promoted anti-democracy influence operations but has not clearly sided with either Republicans or Democrats, officials said.
“These authoritarian regimes, who violate the human rights of their citizens, do not get a say in the democratic process of our country,” Garland told reporters Friday.
