US moves against Iranian actors charged with election meddling

WASHINGTON — The United States put bounties on three Iranian hackers, charging them with multiple crimes in connection with an attempt to undermine former President Donald Trump's reelection campaign and upend the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Friday's actions by multiple U.S. government agencies came with just a little over a month until U.S. voters go to the polls and as U.S. officials seek to push back against what they describe as ever more brazen attempts by Iran to foment division and discord in Washington and beyond.

"You and your hackers can't hide behind your keyboards," said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a video statement.

"If you try to meddle in our elections, we're going to hold you accountable," Wray said. "As long as you keep attempting to flout the rule of law, you're going to keep running into the FBI."

Iranian officials have previously and repeatedly rejected U.S. accusations of election meddling. The Iranian Mission to the United Nations has not yet responded to VOA's request for comment on the latest allegations.

But an indictment unsealed by the U.S. Justice Department assigns responsibility for Iran's long-standing efforts, as well as a recent hack-and-leak operation aimed at derailing the Trump campaign, to three hackers employed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

It accuses Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yaser Balaghi of engaging in what prosecutors describe as a wide-ranging campaign to hack into the work and personal email accounts of current and former government officials, campaign officials and members of the media.

Prosecutors said their list of victims includes a former State Department official, a former presidential homeland security adviser and at least two former CIA officials.

But starting in May, prosecutors allege, the three Iranians turned their attention to the Trump campaign, stealing documents and materials that they then sought to leak to the public.

"I think this information is worth a good [U.S. news publication] piece with your narration," they wrote in an email to a U.S. news outlet in late July or early August, according to the indictment. "Let me know your thoughts."

The revelations build on a U.S. intelligence assessment shared last week, which alleged Iranian actors tried to ensnare officials with the reelection campaign of U.S. President Joe Biden, before Biden's decision to drop out of the race.

The Trump campaign first announced the suspected hack last month, initially blaming "foreign sources hostile to the United States." U.S. intelligence officials attributed the attack to Iran about a week later.

"The defendants' own words make clear that they were attempting to undermine former President Trump's campaign in advance of the 2024 U.S. presidential election," said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during a news conference to announce the charges Friday.

All three are believed to remain in Iran, although the U.S. is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to their arrests. And both the State Department and the FBI have issued wanted posters of the suspects.

"We will follow these people for the rest of their lives," Garland said.

The indictment also makes clear that the efforts spearheaded by the Iranian hackers have not necessarily abated, noting there have been efforts to potentially steal more information as well as to leak already stolen materials to media outlets.

"When it comes to advanced persistent threat actors, you can never be fully confident that you have eradicated them from an environment," a senior FBI official told reporters Friday, briefing on the condition of anonymity. "So, we remain fully engaged with the victims in this case, which include presidential campaigns, as well as individuals associated with those campaigns, to breed resilience among their systems and their various email accounts."

U.S. intelligence agencies have previously said that Tehran is working to hurt the campaign of Trump, believing his election would be detrimental to Iran's goals in the Middle East and beyond.

Senior officials said the latest indictment shows Iranian officials remain intent on damaging the Trump campaign.

"Iran perceives this year's elections to be particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests," said the senior FBI official. "We will be more persistent than the Iranian actors in ensuring that we are assisting victims of this activity [and] increase their resilience against these actors."

Jalili, Aghamiri and Balaghi are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit identity theft, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, unauthorized access to computers and wire fraud.

The various charges carry maximum penalties ranging from two to 27 years in prison.