Trump campaign accuses Iran of election hack

The campaign team of Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump announced on Saturday that some of its internal communications had been hacked, attributing the breach to the Iranian government. The campaign did not present direct evidence but referred to previous tensions between Trump and Iran.

This statement followed a report by Politico, which disclosed that it had received emails in July from an anonymous source offering genuine documents from within Trump's campaign. These documents included a report outlining the "potential vulnerabilities" of Trump’s running mate, JD Vance. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed that these documents were illegally obtained by foreign entities hostile to the United States, with the intention of disrupting the 2024 election and causing chaos in the democratic process.

Reuters has not been able to independently confirm the identity of the hackers or their motivations.

The Trump campaign also pointed to a report released on Friday by Microsoft researchers, which indicated that hackers linked to the Iranian government attempted to breach the account of a "high-ranking official" in a US presidential campaign in June. The hackers reportedly took control of an account belonging to a former political advisor and used it to target the official. The report did not provide specific details about the identities of the targets.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to disclose the names of the officials targeted or provide further information following the publication of the report.

Iran's foreign ministry and its UN representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, in response to Microsoft’s findings, Iran’s mission to the UN stated on Friday that its cyber capabilities are "defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces" and that it does not intend to conduct cyberattacks. The mission also emphasised that the US presidential election is an internal matter in which Iran does not interfere.

During his presidency, Trump had a strained relationship with Iran, including ordering the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and withdrawing the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. Cheung asserted that the Iranian government is aware that Trump would end their "reign of terror" as he did during his first term in office.