WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday dropped criminal charges against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media outlets.

Watch Garland’s remarks in the player above.

The latest crackdown, along with sanctions and rewards for information leading to the arrest of hackers, is the latest attempt by the US government to attempt to meddle in the election by damaging Trump and causing general chaos. is seen as It comes as Iran has been accused of endangering the lives of Trump and former officials, and US-Iranian relations have been strained, particularly by Israel’s fight against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. are

“The defendants’ own words made it clear that they were trying to undermine former President Trump’s campaign ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference announcing the charges. Iran continues its brazen efforts to foment discord, undermine confidence in the US electoral process, and advance its nefarious activities.

The three accused hackers were employees of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards. Since 2020, their operations have sought to compromise the email accounts of a wide range of targets, including the former ambassador to Israel, the former deputy director of the CIA, State and Defense Department officials, US Homeland Security Former advisers and journalists are included. The indictment

The Treasury Department on Friday issued sanctions related to the hacking and the State Department offered rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of the suspects, who are not in custody.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied the allegations, calling them “unsubstantiated and without any basis”, saying Iran had neither the motive nor the intention to interfere in the election. He challenged the US to provide evidence and said that if the US does, we will respond accordingly.

The hacking came after the Trump campaign disclosed on August 10 that it had been breached and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents.

Several major news organizations that said they received classified information from inside the Trump campaign, including Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post, declined to publish it.

US intelligence officials later linked Iran to the hacking of the Trump campaign and the attempted breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign. He said the hack-and-dump operation was aimed at dividing American society, exploiting divisions and potentially influencing the outcome of an election that Iran “considers particularly consequential in terms of the effects it may have.” may affect national security interests.”

The indictment alleges that the accused hackers impersonated US officials and set up fake email identities to trick their victims.

Politico reported that it began receiving emails from an anonymous account on July 22. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign apparently had on the Republican vice presidential candidate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. what was The document was dated February 23, nearly five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

Last week, officials also disclosed that the Iranians sent unsolicited emails containing excerpts of hacked information to people associated with the Biden campaign in late June and early July. None of the recipients responded. The Harris campaign said the emails resembled spam or a phishing attempt and condemned the outreach to Iranians as “unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.”

“Today, the FBI would like to send a message to the government of Iran: You and your hackers cannot hide behind your keyboards,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a video statement. If you try to interfere in our elections, we will hold you accountable.