U.S. says Iran targeted Harris, Trump campaigns with cyberattacks in attempt to sow discord
The United States on Monday accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both U.S. presidential candidates and targeting the American public with influence operations aimed at fanning political discord.
“We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle,” said a statement by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which oversees the defence of government computer systems.
The statement confirmed charges made earlier this month by the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that Iran hacked one of its websites, triggering an FBI investigation.
At that time, Trump said Iran was “only able to get publicly available information.”
Iran, the U.S. statement said, also has targeted the campaign of Vice-President Kamala Harris, who is to officially accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination at this week’s convention.
Members of the U.S. Democratic Party are looking to build onto the momentum that started after Vice-President Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the party’s presidential candidate at this week’s convention.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations issued a statement calling the allegations “unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing. As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran harbours neither the intention nor the motive to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.”
The U.S. statement said Iran has conducted influence operations targeting the American public in a bid to fan political divisions and “cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns.”
“This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former president Trump’s campaign, which the IC [intelligence community] attributes to Iran,” it continued.
It said the intelligence community is confident that Iranian operatives, using social engineering and other means, “sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both parties,” the statement said.
Those activities included thefts and disclosures “intended to influence the U.S. election process,” the statement added, without elaborating.
Published at Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:06:16 +0000
Washington pushes Israel and Hamas toward a deal, but is it enough?
They’re feeling the pressure to make a deal in Jerusalem.
Calling it a “decisive moment,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed how serious Washington is to end more than 10 months of conflict in Gaza.
“It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no,” he warned before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, a line interpreted as an “oblique message” to Netanyahu by Israeli media, including The Times of Israel.
The tactic appears to have worked, at least, when it comes to Netanyahu.
Blinken said after his two and a half hour meeting with the leader on Monday that Israel had accepted a proposal to bridge differences holding up a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, and he called on Hamas to do the same.
“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel supports the bridging proposal,” Blinken told reporters. “The next important step is for Hamas to say ‘yes.’ “
After a weekend of deadly airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for another attempt to broker a ceasefire with Hamas.
Some Israelis push PM to end war
But it’s not just Blinken pressing Netanyahu.
Israelis by the thousands have filled the streets, demanding he accept a ceasefire deal that would see Hamas release some 111 hostages from the Oct. 7 attack. Last Saturday, they marched with signs reading “stop the war” and lit fires on the streets of Tel Aviv.
Polls have found that a majority of Israelis share the view that the war should end.
Israeli politicians and officials have also urged a deal to end fighting, right up to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who ridiculed Netanyahu’s vow to keep fighting until “absolute victory” as “gibberish.” His comments were denounced by the prime minister’s office as “anti-Israeli.”
But the official line from that office seems to be shifting to “an alternate reality,” noticed by commentators like Amos Harel in Haaretz newspaper.
The message from Netanyahu’s staff and supporters? “‘Deal’ is no longer a dirty word, and it isn’t necessarily ‘irresponsible’; it’s something that must be seriously considered,” Harel wrote in a Monday column.
Indeed, after meeting Blinken, Netanyahu’s officials posted on X that the prime minister reiterated during the meeting his “commitment to the current American proposal on the release of our hostages.”
David Satterfield, former U.S special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, says current negotiations are more complicated than any conflict he’s seen in his 45 years on the file.
No agreement from Hamas leaders
Despite similar U.S. pressure, Hamas has not agreed to the new proposals, insisting that it will only release hostages if Israel pulls all its troops from Gaza and makes a commitment to end fighting for good.
Hamas has also not attended last week’s negotiations hosted by Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators in Doha and is not expected to be at the table across from Israel when talks resume this week in Cairo.
Hamas officials said last week that the group would not be taking part in the talks because it does not believe Israel has been negotiating in good faith.
Netanyahu has claimed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been the main obstacle to sealing a deal.
Pressure from hard-line coalition partners
And the Israeli prime minister’s current words of support for the deal may not necessarily last.
He is also facing enormous pressure from hard-line coalition partners, like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have the power to bring down Netanyahu’s government.
“We must win and not go to conferences in Doha or Cairo, rather defeat [Hamas],” Ben-Gvir said last week. “Bring them to their knees.”
As columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in Israel’s Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Monday, “Let’s face it, Netanyahu and Sinwar are not willing to pay the price for a deal.”
Despite the U.S.’s “optimistic view” for a negotiated end to the Gaza war and their diplomatic pressure, it may not be enough.
Published at Mon, 19 Aug 2024 21:56:24 +0000
