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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 23 OctOber 2020

US officials link Iran to emails meant to intimidate voters

tempts to question the out-
come of its own elections at
the highest level.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry sum-
moned the Swiss ambassador
on Thursday over the allega-
tions. The Swiss Embassy has
overseen America’s interests
in Tehran since the aftermath
of the 1979 hostage crisis.

“The Islamic Republic of
Iran, while rejecting the alle-
gations and the fake reports,
again emphasizes that there’s
no difference for Tehran
which candidate goes to the
White House,” the ministry
said in a statement.

Trump, speaking at a rally
Wednesday night in North
Carolina, made no reference
to the announcement, but he
repeated a familiar campaign
assertion that Iran is opposed
to his reelection. He prom-
ised that if he wins another
term he will swiftly reach a
new accord with Iran over its
nuclear program.

(AP) — ‎U.S. officials in online espionage. The an- sound. obscured by servers abroad House Speaker Nancy Pe-
have accused Iran of being nouncement was made late “You should be confident that the authors hijacked to losi and Rep. Adam Schiff,
behind a flurry of threat- Wednesday at a hastily called that your vote counts,” Wray send the emails. the Democratic chairman of
ening but fake emails sent news conference 13 days be- said. “Early, unverified claims the House intelligence com-
to Democratic voters in fore the election. to the contrary should be Bennett Ragan, the cam- mittee, said the “disturbing”
Florida and other battle- viewed with a healthy dose of paign manager of Florida threats cut to the heart of the
ground states in a late- The allegations underscored skepticism.” statehouse candidate Kayser right to vote.
stage effort to sway public the U.S. government's con- Enneking, said he got two of “We cannot allow voter in-
opinion and interfere in cern about efforts by foreign While the two officials called the emails and knew about timidation or interference
the presidential election. countries to influence the out both Russia and Iran for 10 other people in Gaines- efforts, either foreign or
election by spreading false in- having obtained voter regis- ville who also received them. domestic, to silence voters’
Addressed as if from the formation meant to suppress tration information, such data Bennett said the home ad- voices and take away that
far-right, pro-Trump Proud voter turnout and undermine is easily accessible for many dress included in the per- right,” they said in a state-
Boys group, the fake emails American confidence in the states, including Florida. sonalized email he received ment.
appeared aimed at intimi- vote. Such direct attempts to There was no allegation that was not current so he figured
dating voters. John Ratcliffe, sway public opinion are more either country had hacked a the data on him was acquired While state-backed Russian
the government’s national commonly associated with database for it or had altered from the 2018 primary elec- hackers are known to have
intelligence director, said the Moscow, which conducted a any election-related data. tion voter roll. infiltrated U.S. election in-
intent was to hurt President covert social media campaign Iran also distributed a video frastructure in 2016, there
Donald Trump in the contest in 2016 aimed at sowing dis- that falsely suggested voters It would not be the first time is no evidence that Iran has
against Democrat Joe Biden, cord and is again interfering could cast fraudulent bal- that the Trump administra- ever done so, and it was not
though he did not elaborate this year, but the idea that lots from overseas, Ratcliffe tion has said Tehran is work- clear how officials were able
on how. Iran could be responsible said. Google said it “removed ing against the Republican to identify Iran so quickly.
suggested that those tactics a video file on YouTube that president. An intelligence The operation represented
One possibility is the messag- have been adopted by other had fewer than 30 views and assessment released in Au- something of a departure in
es may have been intended to nations, too. terminated the associated gust said: “Iran seeks to un- cyber-ops for Iran, which
align Trump in the minds of Google accounts.” dermine U.S. democratic in- sought for the first time on
voters with the Proud Boys U.S. intelligence officials stitutions, President Trump, record to undermine voter
after he was criticized for have repeatedly stated that Wray and Ratcliffe did not and to divide the country confidence. Iran’s previous
failing to unequivocally de- they consider Russia the pri- describe the emails or video in advance of the 2020 elec- operations have been mostly
nounce the group during mary threat to U.S. election linked to Iran, but officials tions." propaganda and espionage.
the first presidential debate. security, and Ratcliffe said familiar with the matter said A top cyberthreat analyst,
Google said in a statement Russia had also obtained vot- the U.S. had linked Tehran A spokesman for Iran’s mis- John Hultquist of FireEye,
that its spam filters stopped er data for potential mischief. to messages that Democratic sion to the United Nations, said the striking develop-
90% of the roughly 25,000 voters in multiple states, in- Alireza Miryousefi, denied ment marked “a fundamental
emails sent to Gmail users. “These actions are desperate cluding Alaska and Florida, Tehran had anything to do shift in our understanding of
attempts by desperate adver- have received. The emails with the alleged voter intimi- Iran’s willingness to interfere
Officials did not lay out spe- saries,” said Ratcliffe, who, warned recipients that “we dation. in the democratic process.
cific evidence for how they along with FBI Director will come after you” if they While many of their opera-
came to pinpoint Iran, but Christopher Wray, insisted didn’t vote for Trump. Se- “Unlike the U.S., Iran does tions have been focused on
the activities attributed to that the U.S. would impose curity researchers said the not interfere in other coun- promoting propaganda in
Tehran would mark a signifi- costs on any foreign coun- Proud Boys sender address try’s elections,” Miryousefi pursuit of Iran’s interests,
cant escalation for a country tries that interfere in the 2020 used by the spammers was wrote on Twitter. “The world this incident is clearly aimed
some cybersecurity experts U.S. election and that the in- “a flag of convenience.” The has been witnessing U.S.' at undermining voter confi-
regard as a second-rate player tegrity of the vote remains true origin of the emails was own desperate public at- dence.”