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US federal prosecutors have alleged that three hackers working for the Iranian government tried to damage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and influence the 2024 general election.

gave Department of Justice On Friday, indictments were dropped against three Iranian nationals who were said to have been employed by Tehran’s armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Washington has designated as a terrorist organization. .

“There are few actors in the world that pose as serious a threat to America’s national security as Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday.

The indictment comes as Washington fends off efforts by foreign adversaries such as Iran and Russia to interfere in the 2024 US presidential election, which is just weeks away in November.

“[W]E are looking increasingly aggressive The Iranian cyber activity during this election cycle,” Garland said.

Tehran has sought to sow division in American politics through hacking and influence-peddling operations, including sending content stolen from the Trump campaign to American media outlets and covert news targeting voters with disinformation. Creating sites.

Media outlets have refused to publish the hacked material, which reportedly includes an opposition research document on JD Vance, now Trump’s running mate. A freelance journalist who appeared on X on Thursday sharing one of the unverified documents was suspended from the platform.

The defendants, who live in Iran, were charged with computer and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. They are not in custody.

According to the indictment, Masoud Jalili, Seyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasser Balaghi deployed a “large-scale” hacking scheme between 2020 and at least September 2024 that targeted current and former US government officials, journalists, non-governmental organizations and People associated with presidential positions were targeted. Campaigns

The defendants, who could not be reached for comment, allegedly used emails impersonating US government officials to launch their campaign. The targets included a former senior CIA official, a former US president’s homeland security adviser and a former US ambassador to Israel.

The indictment does not name specific presidential candidates. Details show that the trio stole materials related to debate preparation and potential vice presidential candidates, as well as Trump campaign emails, and tried to share them with individuals they believed to be interested in the presidential race. Before withdrawing, he was associated with US President Joe Biden’s team.

The defendants allegedly emailed some of the documents to a person connected to the Biden campaign and said: “I hate [US Presidential Campaign 1’s candidate, believed to be Trump] And strongly do not want to see your second term. So I’m going to get you some materials that will be useful in defeating him.” The individual did not respond.

US officials have indicated that Iran does not want another Trump presidency, as it has vowed to take a tough stance against Tehran and block its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The assassination of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani has also become a hot button issue in 2020.

Experts fear that new tools like artificial intelligence will help speed up disinformation campaigns in the November vote. Russia has also stepped up its influence. DoJ is Possession Dozens of websites were allegedly used by Moscow to spread disinformation ahead of the general election.