Iranian hackers sent emails containing stolen campaign materials from former Republican President Donald Trump to Democratic President Joe Biden's re-election campaign team (before he dropped the nomination). This is part of a larger campaign by Tehran to influence the US election.
This was reported by "Reuters" on Wednesday, citing the results of an investigation by the FBI, the Cybersecurity Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
This malicious cyber activity is the latest example of Iran's multi-pronged approach ... to sow discord and undermine confidence in our election process," the agencies said.
They added that there is currently no information to indicate that these recipients have responded. They did not provide further details about the nature of the stolen material.
In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both US presidential candidates and targeting the American public with influence operations aimed at stoking political discord.
Iran has denied meddling in US affairs.
On Wednesday, her permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said the latest US accusations were "fundamentally unfounded and totally unacceptable". He added: "Iran has neither motive nor intention to interfere in US elections."
Malicious cyber actors sent unsolicited emails to Biden campaign officials in late June and early July that contained a text excerpt of stolen campaign material from the Republican presidential candidate, agencies said.
Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. Polls show Trump and Harris in a tight race.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said Harris and Biden must disclose whether they used the hacked material "to hurt" Trump. The former president later told a rally Wednesday night that Iran had hacked his campaign to help Democrats, calling it foreign interference in the election.
"We are not aware of any material sent directly to the campaign," a Harris campaign spokesman said after the US agencies' statement. "Several individuals had their personal emails targeted with what appeared to be spam or phishing attempts."
Tehran also claims that Washington has interfered in its affairs for decades, from the 1953 coup of a prime minister to the 2020 assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.