A Microsoft spokesperson declined to identify the targeted officials. On Saturday, Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential campaign announced that some of its internal communications had been hacked, blaming the Iranian government while citing past hostilities between Trump and Iran, though no direct evidence was provided.
The campaign’s statement followed a report from the news website Politico, which revealed that it had started receiving emails in July from an anonymous source offering authentic documents from within Trump’s operation, including a report on running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities.”
“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,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.
Later on Saturday, Trump posted on his Truth Social app, claiming that Microsoft had informed the campaign that Iran had hacked one of its websites. He blamed Iran, adding that they were “only able to get publicly available information,” without providing further details about the hack.
Reuters has not independently verified the identity of the alleged hackers or their motivations.
The Trump campaign referenced a report from Microsoft researchers indicating that Iranian government-linked hackers attempted to break into the account of a “high-ranking official” on a U.S. presidential campaign in June. According to the report, the hackers had taken control of an account belonging to a former political advisor and used it to target the official, but no further details on the identities of the targets were provided.
A Microsoft spokesperson did not elaborate on the identities of the targeted officials after the report was published.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York responded via email, stating that “the Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.” They expressed that they do not give credence to such reports.
In response to Microsoft’s findings, Iran’s U.N. mission told Reuters that its cyber capabilities were “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces” and stated that it had no plans to launch cyberattacks.
During his presidency, Trump had a contentious relationship with Iran. The U.S. killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 under his administration and withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran.
“The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House,” Cheung said.
Trump survived an assassination attempt in July, and while there have been no indications that the suspect was linked to Iran, CNN reported last month that U.S. intelligence had information about an Iranian plot against Trump, which Iran has denied.
Late last month, a senior intelligence official informed reporters that Tehran and Moscow maintained their presidential preferences from previous election cycles, with Iranian operatives attempting to undermine the Republican ticket while Russia has focused on discrediting Democrats, according to past assessments by the intelligence community.
