Iran Dismisses European Calls for Restraint

An Iranian woman walks near a billboard of new Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar hanging on a wall at the Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian woman walks near a billboard of new Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar hanging on a wall at the Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Iran Dismisses European Calls for Restraint

An Iranian woman walks near a billboard of new Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar hanging on a wall at the Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian woman walks near a billboard of new Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar hanging on a wall at the Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 12 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Iran's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that calls for restraint regarding Israel from France, Germany and Britain "lack political logic and contradict principles of international law.”

The three European countries issued a statement on Monday calling on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks against Israel following the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

The statement was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Tehran and its allies Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have accused Israel of carrying out the assassination. The Israeli government has made no claim of responsibility.

"Without any objection to the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel), the E3 statement impudently requires Iran not to respond to a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity," Kanaani said.
Kanaani said Tehran is determined to deter Israel and called on Paris, Berlin and London to "once and for all stand up against the war in Gaza and the warmongering of Israel.”

Starmer held a call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, asking him to refrain from attacking Israel and saying that war was not in anyone's interest, his office said.

Starmer told Pezeshkian he was deeply concerned by the situation in the Middle East and called on all parties to de-escalate to avoid further regional confrontation.

Scholz also spoke by phone Monday with Pezeshkian and “expressed his great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East.”
The German government said Scholz made clear that “the spiral of violence in the Middle East must now be broken.”
 



FBI Says Investigating after Trump Campaign Alleged Sensitive Documents Hacked by Iran

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference, Aug. 8, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference, Aug. 8, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo)
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FBI Says Investigating after Trump Campaign Alleged Sensitive Documents Hacked by Iran

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference, Aug. 8, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference, Aug. 8, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo)

The FBI is investigating allegations that sensitive documents from Donald Trump's presidential campaign were stolen in a cyber intrusion, as well as attempts to gain access to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, days after the Trump campaign declared it had been hacked by Iran.

The FBI released a brief statement on the Trump matter reading, “We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter.”

The Trump campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim came shortly after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in the US election in 2024. The report cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”

Two people familiar with the matter said the Biden-Harris campaign was also targeted in the suspected Iranian cyber intrusion that is under FBI investigation. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the investigation.

Politico reported Saturday that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

“These documents were obtained illegally” and “intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” The Associated Press quoted Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung as saying.

At least three staffers in the Biden-Harris campaign were targeted with phishing emails, but investigators have uncovered no evidence the attempt was successful, one of the people said. The attempts came before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
The FBI began investigating that cyber incident in June and intelligence officials believe Iran was behind the attempts, that person said. Officials have also been in touch with tech companies in recent months about the possibility that people linked to the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns were being targeted through email.

Harris' campaign said in a statement, “Our campaign vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches of our systems.” It declined to address whether it had identified any state-based intrusion attempts.