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US Says Iran Responsible for Trump Campaign Hack

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Precision Components Group, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in York, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Precision Components Group, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in York, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
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US Says Iran Responsible for Trump Campaign Hack

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Precision Components Group, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in York, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Precision Components Group, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in York, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Iran was behind a recent hack targeting Donald Trump's presidential campaign, US security agencies said Monday, accusing Tehran of seeking to influence the 2024 election.
The statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed the Trump campaign claim from earlier this month that it had been targeted, potentially by Iran.
"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," the security agencies said.
"This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former president Trump's campaign, which the (intelligence community) attributes to Iran," they said.
In response, Iran's mission to the United Nations denied the country's role in the hack and challenged Washington to release evidence for the claim.
"Such allegations are unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing," the mission said in a statement.
"As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran harbors neither the intention nor the motive to interfere with the US presidential election.
"Should the US government genuinely believe in the validity of its claims, it should furnish us with the pertinent evidence -- if any -- to which we will respond accordingly."
The United States goes to the polls on November 5, with both Trump's and Democratic rival Kamala Harris's campaigns saying they had been targeted by cyber attacks in recent weeks, said AFP.
US-based tech companies have also said they detected such attacks.
The US intelligence community said Monday it was "confident" that Iran had used social engineering and other methods to target individuals in both campaigns, and that the attempts were "intended to influence the US election process."
Trump's campaign said on August 10 that it had been hacked, blaming "foreign sources" for distributing internal communications and a dossier on running mate J.D. Vance.
"These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The Republican former president's campaign implied Iran was behind the move as news outlet Politico reported it had received emails with the campaign material from a source who refused to identify themselves.
Harris campaign targeted
Cheung cited a report from Microsoft this week that said Iranian hackers "sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign."
The materials received by Politico included research on vetting Vance, Trump's vice presidential pick.
In 2016, a hack of Democratic National Committee emails -- blamed on Russians -- exposed internal party communications, including about candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trump, who would go on to win the election, was criticized for encouraging the hack.
Harris's campaign said on August 13 that it too had been targeted by foreign hackers, but did not give an indication of which country was believed to be behind the attempt.
"In July, the campaign legal and security teams were notified by the FBI that we were targeted by a foreign actor influence operation," a Harris campaign official told AFP.
Google said this month that hackers backed by Iran were targeting the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns.
A hacker group known as APT42 linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps went after high-profile individuals and organizations in Israel and the United States, including government officials and political campaigns, according to a threat report released by Google.
Google's threat analysis group continues to see unsuccessful attempts from APT42 to compromise personal accounts of individuals affiliated with Biden, Harris and Trump, the report said.

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World

FBI Offers $200,000 Reward to Catch Ex-Air Force Specialist Wanted on Espionage Charges in Iran

An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
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FBI Offers $200,000 Reward to Catch Ex-Air Force Specialist Wanted on Espionage Charges in Iran

An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)

The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to capture and prosecution of a former US Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran in 2013 and was later charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government.

Monica Elfriede Witt, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2019 on charges of espionage, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran. She remains at large.

Witt “allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities,” Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, said in a news release Wednesday.

“The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts.”

It wasn't immediately known why the FBI was bringing attention to Witt's case. The United States and Iran have been at war since Feb. 28.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She later found work as a Defense Department contractor.

The Texas native defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

Before that, Witt had been warned by the FBI about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Witt placed at risk "sensitive and classified US national defense information and programs,” the news release said.

“Witt allegedly intentionally provided information endangering US personnel and their families stationed abroad. She also allegedly conducted research on behalf of the Iranian regime to allow them to target her former colleagues in the US government,” it said.

World

South Korea to Investigate Ship Debris from Hormuz Attack

This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)
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South Korea to Investigate Ship Debris from Hormuz Attack

This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)

Debris from a fire-damaged cargo ship said to have been attacked by unidentified aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz arrived in South Korea on Friday for investigation, the foreign ministry said.

Iran has largely blocked shipping through the vital strait since conflict broke out with the United States and Israel on February 28 and Washington blockaded Tehran's ports.

HMM Namu was struck by "two unidentified aircraft" on May 4, hitting the outer plate of the vessel's port-side ballast tank near the stern and causing a fire in the engine room, Seoul, a US ally, said at a press briefing on Sunday.

The Panama-flagged cargo vessel, operated by South Korean shipping firm HMM Co., had arrived in Dubai last week for investigation.

Its debris "arrived in South Korea by air following consultations with the UAE government" on Friday, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The vessel debris is "scheduled to undergo detailed analysis by a specialized institution", it added without providing further detail.

Seoul said the aircraft involved in the attack "were captured on CCTV footage, but there are limitations in identifying the exact type, launch origin and physical size of the objects".

A senior government official told local media this week that the "likelihood that the (attacking) entity was someone other than Iran is low."

Tehran has denied responsibility, with its embassy in Seoul posting a statement on its website in the days following the attack, saying it "firmly rejects and categorically denies any allegations regarding the involvement" of its forces.

Seoul strongly condemned the attack and said it hopes to identify those behind it through a thorough investigation.

South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, relies heavily on Middle Eastern fuel imports, most of which transited through the Strait of Hormuz during peacetime.

As a major petrochemicals producer and refiner, the closure has forced South Korea to impose a fuel price cap for the first time in nearly 30 years.

World

Ministers Adopt New Interpretation of Migrants’ Rights in European Legal System

Participants attend the opening session of the 135th Ministerial Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chisinau, Moldova, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP)
Participants attend the opening session of the 135th Ministerial Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chisinau, Moldova, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP)
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Ministers Adopt New Interpretation of Migrants’ Rights in European Legal System

Participants attend the opening session of the 135th Ministerial Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chisinau, Moldova, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP)
Participants attend the opening session of the 135th Ministerial Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chisinau, Moldova, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP)

European ministers adopted ‌a new interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights on Friday that could facilitate some migrant deportations, including to third country "return hubs", but which critics say will weaken human rights protections.

The declaration comes amid complaints from member states in recent years that the European Court of Human Rights has prevented governments from forcibly removing foreign nationals convicted of crimes or refused asylum seekers.

The declaration adopted at the annual session of the Council of Europe's Committee of ministers in Moldova qualifies the rights under article 3 and article 8 of the convention, which relate to protection ‌from torture and ‌inhuman and degrading treatment and the right to ‌a ⁠private and family ⁠life.

It approves cooperation with third countries on immigration, including on "return hubs", provided that the countries respect the human rights convention.

It states that prohibition from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment is absolute, but that "the assessment of the minimum level of severity of the ill-treatment that constitutes inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is relative and depends on all the circumstances ⁠of the case".

Veronika Fikfak, Professor of Human Rights ‌and International Law at University College London, ‌said that the declaration's interpretation of article 3 was a significant development and would ‌dilute protections from torture.

"It says (prohibition of torture and inhuman or ‌degrading treatment) is absolute, but then they use words to balance and offer a relative interpretation, but this is inconsistent with the heart of Article 3 - an absolute right cannot contain any element of relativity or balance," she said.

On ‌article 8, the declaration said states can expel foreign nationals in spite of their right to a ⁠private and ⁠family life so long as it is balanced with a legitimate aim, such as national security, and that the European Court of Human Rights would require "strong reasons" to override a state's decision.

The 46-member Council of Europe was set up after World War Two to uphold human rights and the rule of law.

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset welcomed the declaration and said it would guide the work of the council and of national authorities and domestic courts.

"We have been able to bring together countries across Europe, with different views and experiences to agree a common position on how the system should work best, notably in the challenging context of migration," he said in a statement.