Iran's influence operations in the US are growing exponentially, with the Wall Street Journal reporting this month on an FBI investigation that "comes amid rising fears that Iran has emerged as the most aggressive foreign election threat to U.S."
"Iran has quickly emerged as the chief election security concern within the U.S. government. Just last month, U.S. intelligence officials told media reporters that Russia was the 'pre-eminent threat' to the November vote and viewed Iran as a lesser concern seeking solely to generate discord."
Iran's purpose? To foment chaos and prevent the reelection of Donald Trump.
The Biden-Harris administration has not lifted a finger against Iran for a reported 200 attacks on US troops in the Middle East, which include firing on US Navy ships, closing the Suez Canal, launching a Hamas-Hezbollah-Houthi War against Israel, not to mention the atrocities Iran's regime commits every day against its own people. By ignoring sanctions against Iran and presenting no deterrence, the administration has, in fact, set up Iran to do all of that.
The US could probably close down Iran's election-interference activities, but, given the above, such a response is doubtful. More to the point, the administration has the same goal as the Iranian regime: it does not want Trump elected, either.
According to a July 9 statement by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines:
" Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions, as we have seen them do in the past, including in prior election cycles. They continue to adapt their cyber and influence activities, using social media platforms and issuing threats. It is likely they will continue to rely on their intelligence services in these efforts, as well as Iran-based online influencers, to promote their narratives."
U.S. intelligence agencies have "observed Tehran working to influence the presidential election" an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
A statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence noted in late July:
"The Iranian leaders want to avoid an outcome they perceive would increase tensions with the United States. Tehran relies on vast webs of online personas and propaganda mills to spread disinformation and have notably been active in exacerbating tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict."
Haines's reference to former election cycles refers to the 2020 election, during which Iran sought to undermine the reelection of President Donald Trump, according to declassified US intelligence. A declassified document from the National Intelligence Council on foreign threats to the election concluded:
"We assess that Iran carried out a multi-pronged covert influence campaign intended to undercut former President Trump's reelection prospects—though without directly promoting his rivals—undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions, and sow division and exacerbate societal tensions in the US. We have high confidence in this assessment. We assess that Supreme Leader Khamenei authorized the campaign and Iran's military and intelligence services implemented it using overt and covert messaging and cyber operations."
A new report by the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC), which tracks influence operations from specific nation-state groups around the world found that "over the past several months, we have seen the emergence of significant influence activity by Iranian actors." These Iranian efforts include fraudulent websites posing as news sites, and the impersonation of social and political activist groups "to stoke chaos, undermine trust in authorities, and sow doubt about election integrity."
MTAC assessed that operations "may go as far as intimidation, doxing, or violent incitement targeting political figures or social/political groups" and warned:
"Looking forward, we expect Iranian actors will employ cyberattacks against institutions and candidates while simultaneously intensifying their efforts to amplify existing divisive issues within the US, like racial tensions, economic disparities, and gender-related issues."
The Iranian operatives engaged in the influence campaigns include the participation of the intelligence unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iranian agents are still trying to murder US officials who served under the Trump administration, as well as Trump himself.
Iran's Islamist regime took its operations in the US one step further. The Trump campaign recently reported that Iran had hacked it and that Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed the hacking in a joint statement on August 19:
"Iran perceives this year's elections to be particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests, increasing Tehran's inclination to try to shape the outcome. We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns."
At least three news outlets — Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post — were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign, including vetting reports of potential vice presidential candidates, including J.D. Vance. So far, the outlets have refused to reveal details about what they received.
In the statement, US intelligence claimed that Iran had targeted both "presidential campaigns." Whether true or not, there can be no doubt that a Trump presidency poses a genuine threat to Iran. Meanwhile, the lavish gifts, accommodations and appeasement that the Biden administration continues to shower upon the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, ensures the Islamic regime's survival.
The Kamala Harris campaign has previously said it had no indication it was hacked. Of course, why would Iran seek to harm Harris's campaign in any way, when her presidency would guarantee the continuation of appeasement and accommodation that has been the norm for the Democratic party ever since Barack Hussein Obama was president?
Iran has, in fact, threatened to assassinate Trump ever since he ordered the assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. In July 2024, prior to the actual assassination attempt against Trump at the Pennsylvania rally -- an extreme event that has completely disappeared from the news cycle -- the Biden administration obtained intelligence about an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
Another plot to assassinate Trump was recently revealed, when an alleged Iranian agent, a man of Pakistani origin named Asif Merchant, was arrested for plotting to assassinate Trump. According to FBI investigators, Trump and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot.
The million-dollar question is what the Biden-Harris administration is doing to deter, discourage and hold accountable Iran's Islamist regime for seeking to influence, destabilize, and hack the US elections? The answer appears to be: nothing. The Biden-Harris administration has not even responded to the issue.
"I think what's missing here is a response from the administration," US House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-OH) said, when asked if he was "satisfied" with the US government and social media companies' efforts to combat election interference by Iran.
Turner said the administration was "not holding Iran accountable," or doing anything to deter the Islamic regime, adding:
"The administration is both on the hacking side, on the misinformation side, and on the alleged attempt on Donald Trump's life is not holding Iran accountable. There's no red lines. I'm saying that ... there is not a response that impacts Iran or that has a deterrent effect, or even holds them accountable and that, of course, results in increased activity and an increased emboldening of Iran to meddle in our elections and to ... have people at risk in our country."
This is a scandal, obviously, and like so many other scandals, it is simply allowed to play out by the media -- which ignores it -- and the political elites on both sides of the aisle. Apparently, the "democracy" that Democrats constantly howl about being threatened by a Trump presidency does not matter enough to deter Iran, so long as Iran's actions benefit the Democrats?
The Biden-Harris administration itself, after all, has been infiltrated by Iranian agents, as an investigation by Semafor showed last fall, with at least three Iranian agents working directly under U.S. Special Representative for Iran Rob Malley. According to the outstanding journalist Lee Smith:
"Ariane Tabatabai's correspondence with Zahrani offers clear evidence that Malley's protégé was an active participant in a covert Iranian influence campaign designed to shape U.S. government policy in order to serve the interests of the Iranian regime. Her requests for guidance from top Iranian officials, which she appears to have faithfully followed, and her desire to harmonize her own words and actions with regime objectives, are hardly the behavior of an impartial academic, or a U.S. public servant. Tabatabai's emails show her enthusiastically submitting to the control of top Iranian officials, who then guided her efforts to propagandize and collect intelligence on U.S. and allied officials in order to advance the interests of the Islamic Republic."
Tabatabai has been allowed to keep not only her job at the Pentagon, but her security clearance as well.
In the end, the Biden-Harris administration itself is the most important shill for Iran. The administration has sent almost $1 billion in aid to Iran's proxy Hamas since October 7 and given $6 billion in frozen assets from South Korea and another $10 billion in unfrozen assets from Oman. According to the Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Biden has also quietly let the international embargo on Iran's missile program lapse and relaxed oil-sanctions enforcement, yielding a surge in Iranian oil exports that has brought the regime tens of billions of dollars."
Why would the Biden-Harris administration want to deter Iran from anything?
Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.
Jagdish N Singh