US presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused Iran of hacking into his campaign, alleging that the Iranian government stole and disseminated sensitive internal documents. On Saturday, the Republican nominee’s campaign team released a statement asserting these claims, which followed a report by Microsoft highlighting foreign efforts to meddle in this year’s US election. Despite pointing to previous tensions between Trump and Iran, the campaign did not provide direct evidence to support the accusation.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung stated, “These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process.” Later on Saturday, Trump posted on his Truth Social app that Microsoft had informed his campaign about an Iranian hack on one of their websites, although he noted that the hackers were “only able to get publicly available information.”
A report by Politico, published just before the accusation, mentioned an anonymous source offering to supply the US outlet with documents from within Trump’s campaign, including a report on running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities.”
In response to these developments, a spokesperson for the National Security Council emphasized in a statement that any reports of foreign interference are taken “extremely seriously” and condemned any attempts to undermine US democratic institutions.
Microsoft’s report indicated that “foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months, due initially to Russian operations but more recently from Iranian activity.”
Iran’s permanent mission to the UN in New York responded by email, denying any involvement or intention to interfere in the US presidential election. “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission stated, rebutting the Trump campaign’s allegations.
Additionally, Iran’s UN mission told Reuters that its cyber capabilities are “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces,” reiterating that it has no plans to launch cyberattacks. Relations between Tehran and Trump remain strained, especially after the US, under Trump’s presidency, killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and withdrew from the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.
Cheung added, “The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House.” Although a suspect in a July assassination attempt on Trump had no ties to Iran, a CNN report last month suggested that US intelligence had uncovered an Iranian plot against Trump, a charge Iran denied.
Recently, the US Department of Justice unsealed criminal charges against Pakistani national Asif Merchant, who is alleged to have connections with Iran and to have plotted assassination attempts against US political figures, including Trump.
