DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥 Iran has emerged as a twofold concern for the United States as it nears the end of the presidential campaign.
Prosecutors allege associated with the election, stealing information from former President Donald Trump鈥檚 campaign. And U.S. officials have accused it of and other ex-officials.
For Iran, assassination plots and hacking aren鈥檛 new strategies.
Iran saw the value and the danger of hacking in the early 2000s, when the Stuxnet virus, believed to have been deployed by Israel and the U.S., tried to damage Iran鈥檚 nuclear program. Since then, hackers attributed to state-linked operations have targeted the Trump campaign, Iranian expatriates and government officials at home.
Its history of assassinations goes back further. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran killed or abducted perceived enemies living abroad.
A look at Iran鈥檚 history of targeting opponents:
A history of hacks
For many, Iran鈥檚 behavior can be traced to the emergence of the Stuxnet computer virus. Released in the 2000s, Stuxnet wormed its way into control units for uranium-enriching centrifuges at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, causing them to speed up, ultimately destroying themselves.
Iranian scientists initially believed mechanical errors caused the damage. Ultimately though, Iran removed the affected equipment and sought its own way of striking enemies online.
鈥淚ran had an excellent teacher in the emerging art of cyberwarfare,鈥 wryly noted a 2020 report from the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Saudi Arabia.
That was acknowledged by the National Security Agency in a document leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2015 to The Intercept, which examined a cyberattack that destroyed hard drives at Saudi Arabia鈥檚 state oil company. Iran has been suspected of carrying out that attack, called Shamoon, in
鈥淚ran, having been a victim of a similar cyberattack against its own oil industry in April 2012, has demonstrated a clear ability to learn from the capabilities and actions of others,鈥 the document said.
There also were domestic considerations. In 2009, the disputed reelection of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked the Green Movement protests. Twitter, one source of news from the demonstrations, found its website defaced by the self-described 鈥淚ranian Cyber Army.鈥 There鈥檚 been suspicion that the Revolutionary Guard, a major power base within Iran's theocracy, oversaw the 鈥淐yber Army鈥 and other hackers.
Meanwhile, Iran itself has been hacked repeatedly in embarrassing incidents. They include the mass across Iran, as well as at Tehran鈥檚 notorious Evin Prison and .
Hacks offer low costs and high rewards
Iranian hacking attacks, given their low cost and high reward, likely will continue as Iran faces a tense international environment surrounding Iran's to near weapons-grade levels and the prospect of Trump becoming president again.
The growth of 3G and 4G mobile internet services in Iran also made it easier for the public 鈥 and potential hackers 鈥 to access the internet. Iran has over 50 major universities with computer science or information technology programs. At least three of Iran鈥檚 top schools are thought to be affiliated with Iran鈥檚 Defense Ministry and the Guard, providing potential hackers for security forces.
Iranian hacking attempts on U.S. targets have included near New York City 鈥 attacks American prosecutors linked to the Guard.
While Russia is seen as the biggest foreign threat to U.S. elections, officials have been concerned about Iran. Its hacking attempts in the presidential campaign have relied on phishing 鈥 sending many misleading emails in hopes that some recipients will inadvertently provide access to sensitive information.
Amin Sabeti, a digital security expert who focuses on Iran, said the tactic works.
鈥淚t鈥檚 scalable, it鈥檚 cheap and you don鈥檛 need a skill set because you just put, I don鈥檛 know, five crazy people who are hard line in an office in Tehran, then send tens of thousands of emails. If they get 10 of them, it鈥檚 enough,鈥 he said.
For Iran, hacks targeting the U.S. offer the prospect of causing chaos, undermining Trump鈥檚 campaign and obtaining secret information.
鈥淚鈥檝e lost count of how many attempts have been made on my emails and social media since it鈥檚 been going on for over a decade,鈥 said Holly Dagres, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who once had her email briefly hacked by Iran. 鈥淭he Iranians aren鈥檛 targeting me because I have useful information swimming in my inbox or direct messages. Rather, they hope to use my name and think tank affiliation to target others and eventually make it up the chain to high-ranking U.S. government officials who would have useful information and intelligence related to Iran.鈥
Iran鈥檚 killings and abductions abroad
Iran has vowed to exact revenge against Trump and others in his former administration over the 2020 drone strike that killed the prominent in Baghdad.
In July, authorities said they learned of and boosted security. Iran has not been linked to the assassination attempts against Trump in Florida and Pennsylvania. A Pakistani man who spent time in Iran was recently charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly plotting to carry out , including potentially of Trump.
Officials take Iran's threat seriously given its history of targeting adversaries.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, its leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini signaled how Iran would target perceived enemies by saying, 鈥淚slam grew with blood.鈥
鈥淭he great prophet of Islam, he had the Quran in one hand, and a sword in the other hand 鈥 a sword to suppress traitors,鈥 Khomeini said.
Even before creating a , Iran is suspected of targeting opponents abroad, beginning with members of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi鈥檚 former government. The attention shifted to perceived opponents of the theocracy, both in the country with and abroad.
Outside of Iran, the so-called 鈥渃hain murders鈥 targeted activists, journalists and other critics. One prominent incident linked to Iran was a shooting at a restaurant in Germany that killed three Iranian-Kurdish figures and a translator. In 1997, a German court implicated Iran鈥檚 top leaders in the shooting, sparking most European Union nations to withdraw their ambassadors.
Iran鈥檚 targeted killings slowed after that, but didn鈥檛 stop. U.S. prosecutors link Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guard to a 2011 plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Meanwhile, a suspected Israeli campaign of assassinations targeted scientists in Iran鈥檚 nuclear program.
In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear deal that saw it greatly reduce its enrichment in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Two years later, Trump was elected pledging to unilaterally withdraw America from the accord. As businesses backed away from Iran, Tehran renewed a campaign of targeting opponents abroad, but this time for trial.
Belgium arrested an Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, in 2018 and ultimately convicted him of masterminding a against an exiled Iranian opposition group. Iran also increasingly has turned to criminal gangs for some attempts, such as what U.S. prosecutors have described as plots to kill or
Among those targeted after Soleimani's death was former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton. The U.S. has offered a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the capture or conviction of a Revolutionary Guard member it said arranged to kill Bolton for $300,000.
An FBI agent quoted Guard Gen. Esmail Ghaani as saying in 2022 in a court filing, 鈥淲herever is necessary we take revenge against Americans by the help of people on their side and within their own homes without our presence.鈥
