Washington, United States

United States on Wednesday (Sep 18) revealed that Iranian hackers had attempted to interfere in the 2024 election by sending stolen material from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign to people involved with Democratic President Joe Biden's re-election campaign. 

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This, according to US agencies, was part of Iran's broader effort to influence the US election and aimed to create discord and undermine confidence in the American electoral process. 

Stolen materials

In a joint statement, the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said: "Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Trump's campaign to US media organisations".

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"This malicious cyber activity is the latest example of Iran’s multi-pronged approach ... to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process," it added.

According to the agencies, there is currently no evidence that the recipients of the stolen material — the Biden campaign — replied or engaged with the hackers. They did not specify what the stolen material was.

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They also revealed that the cyber attackers also approached some US media organisations with the information, but did not name the outlets.

Iran denies allegations

Tehran has, however, denied the allegations, labelling them "devoid" of credibility.

"Already devoid of any credibility and legitimacy, such allegations are fundamentally unfounded and wholly inadmissible," said Iran in a statement.

"Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election; and, it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations."

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Trump campaign slams Democrats

Donald Trump's campaign on Wednesday alleged that the stolen material was "proof," that "the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden."

This, as per Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt, was "because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror."

(With inputs from agencies)