When the Iranian Regime Intervenes in US Elections

In a significant move that, since the establishment of Iran's Islamist regime, Iranian leaders have actively extended their influence to support a political party and candidate in a U.S. presidential race. This notable intervention is directed towards aiding the Democratic ticket headed by Vice President Kamala Harris. It is a move that signals that Iran's regime hopes to secure an even deeper geopolitical alignment after the upcoming U.S. elections.

The FBI recently confirmed that information stolen by the Iranian regime agents, through their hacking of Donald Trump's campaign, was disseminated to individuals connected to the Democratic campaign.

In a joint statement released on September 18, the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency revealed that Iranian agents executed a malicious operation, whereby they "sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden's campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump's campaign as text in the emails." This disclosure only underscores how far-reaching Tehran's cyber capabilities have become.

A particularly striking element of this revelation is the Democratic campaign's silence regarding the stolen information. Despite having received the data that originated from the Trump campaign, the Democratic camp refrained from acknowledging it until the FBI publicly disclosed the fact on September 18. On September 19, the Harris campaign finally responded, pointing out that it had not utilized any materials that Iranian hackers had allegedly collected from Trump's email accounts.

The Trump campaign, swiftly reacting to this news, issued a statement demanding accountability from Harris. Trump's camp stated that she must "come clean on whether they used the hacked material."

"Harris would ignore Iran's efforts to annihilate Israel as well as Tehran's rising influence in Latin America."

On September 18, former Trump took to Truth Social, where he posted a scathing message: "FBI CAUGHT IRAN SPYING ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GIVING ALL OF THE INFORMATION TO THE KAMALA HARRIS CAMPAIGN. THEREFORE SHE AND HER CAMPAIGN WERE ILLEGALLY SPYING ON ME."

Trump continued: "TO BE KNOWN AS THE IRAN, IRAN, IRAN CASE! WILL KAMALA RESIGN IN DISGRACE FROM POLITICS? WILL THE COMMUNIST LEFT PICK A NEW CANDIDATE TO REPLACE HER?"

These remarks highlight Trump's concerns about foreign interference and its potential impact on the integrity of U.S. elections, particularly in relation to candidacy of Harris.

Why Iran favors Democrats

What adds more intrigue to the story is the apparent desire of the Iranian regime to assist the Democratic Party. There appear to be several underlying reasons why Tehran favors a Harris victory.

First, Harris would likely continue the current administration's extremely lenient approach to enforcing sanctions on Iran. Under the current U.S. administration, Iran has been able to sell oil at record levels and engage in lucrative trade with European nations – exponentiating Iran's revenues.

Second, the Iranian regime anticipates that billions of dollars will continue to be released under a Harris administration. In the past four years, significant funds, nearly $60 billion, have effectively been given to Iran's mullahs by the Biden-Harris administration. The windfall has enriched the regime and bolstered both its economic and military capabilities. Iranian leaders see the continuation of this financial flow as critical to their long-term strategy of expanding Iran's influence in the Middle East and beyond.

Starting a war against Israel through its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, closing off the Suez Canal, and firing on US troops in the region more than 150 times just since October was apparently Iran's gracious way of saying thank you.

Third, the Iranian regime must be ecstatic over on Harris' reluctance to confront their galloping advancements in nuclear technology. Iran's nuclear program reached its highest level of progress under the Biden-Harris administration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in July that Iran's nuclear weapons were only "1-2 weeks away." Iran appears dangerously close to having nuclear bombs with which to do anything the mullahs want.

Fourth, Iran expects that under a Harris presidency, the U.S. will remain passive in response to Tehran's military support for Russia in the ongoing war against Ukraine. From the perspective of the Iranian regime, Harris would similarly ignore Iran's efforts, through its military proxies and terror networks, to annihilate Israel as well as Tehran's rising influence in the US backyard, Latin America, which has increasingly become a geopolitical interest for Iran.

That the Iranian regime is meddling in U.S. elections to support the Harris campaign, should serve as a jarring warning that Harris's approach to Iran policy is one that would enable this expansionist regime to keep wreaking horrors on the world, both by itself and through its proxies, especially after it acquires nuclear capability. Why should Iran's government, which treats its own people atrociously, be expected to treat others any better?

© Gatestone Institute