The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Monday that it is probing into an alleged cyber intrusion into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which the campaign attributes to Iran—a claim that the Iranian government has denied.
During a press briefing, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel addressed the situation, stating, “These recent attempts to interfere in the U.S. elections are not new for the Iranian regime, which, from our perspective, has undermined—or attempted to undermine—democracies for many years.”
The French Press Agency reported Patel expressing previous concerns over Iranian cyber activities targeting the U.S.
Patel emphasized that the U.S. possesses a variety of tools ready to hold the Iranian regime accountable and will not hesitate to use them. However, he did not confirm whether the U.S. had definitively established that Iran was behind the alleged hacking.
At the White House, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby deferred questions about the responsible party to the FBI and the Department of Justice but referenced a previous intelligence report suggesting that Iran aims to influence the outcomes of presidential elections.
Trump’s campaign team pointed to Iran as the source behind the hacking attempt that resulted in the dissemination of documents, including research used for JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, to journalists last Saturday.
The Trump campaign has cautioned the media against republishing the documents, stating that doing so would be tantamount to “acting on behalf of America’s enemies.”
This marked a stark contrast to Trump’s comments in 2016 when he expressed hope at a press conference that Russia would hack his rival Hillary Clinton’s email to find deleted messages. U.S. intelligence later concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 elections to aid Trump, who has denied the results of the investigation.
