The campaign of Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump announced on Saturday that some of its internal communications were compromised by hackers, attributing the breach to the Iranian government. The campaign’s statement, issued without direct evidence, pointed to historical tensions between Trump and Iran as the basis for their allegations.
The announcement followed a report from news website Politico, which disclosed that it had started receiving emails from an anonymous source containing documents from within Trump’s campaign. “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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
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The Trump campaign referenced a report from Microsoft researchers on Friday, which indicated that hackers affiliated with the Iranian government attempted to breach the account of a “high-ranking official” in the U.S. presidential campaign in June. However, the report did not reveal the identity of the official targeted.
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.” During his presidency, Trump had a strained relationship with Iran, marked by the U.S. killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
In July, Trump survived an assassination attempt. While there have been no confirmed links between the suspect and Iran, CNN reported last month that U.S. intelligence had been aware of an Iranian plot against Trump. Iran has denied any such allegations.
(Includes inputs from online sources)
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