US says Iran targeted Harris and Trump with cyberattacks in attempt to sow division

The United States accused Iran on Monday of carrying out cyberattacks against the campaigns of both US presidential candidates and influencing the American public with the aim of sowing political division.

“We have seen increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle,” said a statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which oversees the defense of government computer systems.

The statement confirmed allegations made earlier this month by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign that Iran hacked one of its websites, prompting an FBI investigation.

Trump said at the time that Iran “could only get publicly available information.”

According to the US statement, Iran has also targeted the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who will officially accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination at Congress this week.

WATCH | Democrats aim to build on momentum during Congress:

Democrats hope for continued momentum at party convention

Members of the US Democratic Party are looking to build on the momentum generated after Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the party’s presidential nominee at this week’s convention.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations issued a statement calling the allegations “baseless and without any standing.” As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran has neither the intention nor the motive to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

The US statement said Iran has conducted influence operations targeting the American public in an attempt to incite political division and that it has also conducted “cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns.”

“This includes recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC [intelligence community] attributions to Iran,” it continued.

According to the intelligence agency, the organization believes that Iranian agents, using social engineering and other means, “attempted to gain access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both parties,” the statement said.

Those activities included thefts and disclosures “for the purpose of influencing the U.S. electoral process,” the statement added, without elaborating.