U.S. officials expect that in the coming weeks, Iran is likely to contact individual Americans directly to try to influence how they vote, stir societal divide or incite violence, according to three sources with knowledge of U.S. intelligence reporting on the issue.
The U.S. intelligence community noted this month that Iranian hackers appear to have gained access to some Americans’ voting records, as they did in 2020.
Last week, U.S. intelligence officials told reporters that both Iran and Russia were continuing propaganda operations to influence American voters and society.
A spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations didn’t respond to a request for comment, but officials for Tehran have routinely denied American accusations of election influence campaigns.
In the leadup to the 2020 election, U.S. officials announced that Iran was behind an ambitious effort to sow election discord.
Persons:
”, John Hultquist, Donald Trump, ” Max Lesser, we’ve, IRGC, desecraters
Organizations:
Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, United Nations, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, NBC News, “, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Department, Trump militia, Google, Haaretz
Locations:
Iran, U.S, Sweden, Israel, Russia, Tehran, Florida, Swedish