U.S. intelligence officials believe that Iran is trying to sabotage former President Trump’s presidential campaign through online influence operations, according to a press briefing on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said U.S. spy agencies ‘observed Tehran working to influence the presidential election,’ likely because Iranian leaders want to avoid increased tensions with the U.S.
The official didn’t directly say that Iran was trying to undermine Trump, but that American spies ‘haven’t observed a shift in Iran’s preferences’ since 2020, meaning that Iran was still targeting Trump.
During the briefing, an intelligence official also said Iran is utilizing ‘vast webs of online personas and propaganda mills to spread disinformation,’ in addition to different online campaigns.
The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations denied allegations of election interference to Fox News Digital.
‘Iran does not engage in any objectives or activities intended to influence the U.S. election,’ a spokesperson said. ‘A significant portion of such accusations are characterized by psychological operations designed to artificially pep up election campaigns.’
Earlier in July, Tehran was accused of a separate plot to kill Trump after a gunman shot the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Shortly after the allegations were made, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran said that the claims were ‘unsubstantiated and malicious.’
‘From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani,’ the permanent mission said to Fox News Digital at the time. ‘Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice.’
Iran is not the only foreign adversary accused of meddling with the 2024 presidential election. On July 10, ODNI officials called Russia the ‘preeminent threat’ to the election.
Russia is ‘undertaking a whole-of-government approach to influence the election, including the presidential race, Congress and public opinion,’ an intelligence official said during the July 10 briefing, adding that Russia has grown ‘more sophisticated’ in election interference. The country generally targets the Democratic Party in U.S. elections.
According to the Director of National Intelligence’s latest report on Russia, the Kremlin targets the Democratic Party to diminish U.S. support for Ukraine, among other reasons.
‘We assess that the Russian government and its proxies sought to denigrate the Democratic Party before the midterms and undermine confidence in the election, most likely to weaken U.S. support for Ukraine, and to erode trust in U.S. democratic institutions,’ the report reads.
Per the July 10 ODNI briefing, Russia is reportedly also using artificial intelligence to mimic American Southern and Midwestern accents on social media.
‘Foreign adversaries continue to experiment with and have adopted at least some generative AI tools to more quickly and cheaply generate authentic looking content tailored primarily for social media platforms that can target specific audiences including in the U.S.,’ an ODNI official said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Louis Casiano and David Spunt contributed to this report.
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