WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (KUNA) — The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated six Iranian individuals and one Iranian entity for attempting to influence the 2020 US presidential election pursuant to the Executive Order (EO) 13848.
The EO provides for “imposing certain sanctions in the event of foreign interference in a US election,” the Dept. noted in a press release on Thursday.
“The United States identified attempted cyber-enabled intrusions by state-sponsored actors, including Iranian actors who sought to sow discord and undermine voters’ faith in the US electoral process.
“The actors also disseminated disinformation on social media and sent threatening emails as well as a fraudulent video,” according to the statement.
The fake video was made in an attempt to undermine faith in the election by implying that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, it added.
Meanwhile, the Dept.’s Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, “Treasury will continue to counter efforts to undermine the integrity of our election system.” “Today’s action underscores the US government’s commitment to hold state-sponsored actors accountable for attempting to undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions,” he noted.
In this context, the Department of Justice affirmed that an indictment was unsealed in New York today charging two Iranian nationals for their involvement in a cyber-enabled campaign to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord, in connection with the 2020 US presidential election.
According to court documents, both of Iran, obtained confidential US voter information from at least one state election website; sent threatening email messages to intimidate and interfere with voters; created and disseminated a video containing disinformation about purported election infrastructure vulnerabilities; attempted to access, without authorization, several states’ voting-related websites; and successfully gained unauthorized access to a US media company’s computer network that, if not for successful FBI and victim company efforts to mitigate, would have provided the conspirators another vehicle to disseminate false claims after the election.
On his part, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that that state-sponsored actors, including Iranian groups, have engaged in covert and deceptive activities to disseminate disinformation through websites and social media designed to undermine Americans’ faith in US elections. “By taking this action, the US government demonstrates that we will hold state-sponsored actors to account for attempting to undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions,” he affirmed. “Today’s designations represent the collective efforts of the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “The US government took decisive and disruptive action against those seeking to interfere with our elections, including the FBI warning the public of the attempts ahead of the 2020 elections,” he added
