### U.S. Officials Warn of Potential Iranian Direct Outreach to Influence Voters

U.S. authorities have raised alarms about the possibility of Iran directly contacting American citizens in the upcoming weeks to sway their voting decisions, foster societal divisions, or even incite violence. According to sources familiar with U.S. intelligence reports, the exact mechanics of these potential operations remain unclear, but the efforts echo past actions attributed to Iran by the U.S., Sweden, and Israel, which involved sending menacing emails and texts to their citizens.

Recent findings from the U.S. intelligence community have highlighted that Iranian hackers have accessed voter records, similar to incidents reported during the 2020 elections. John Hultquist, a lead analyst at Google's Threat Intelligence Group, referenced Iran's history with these tactics, noting that they are a known entity in this arena.

Concerns extend beyond Iran, as U.S. intelligence officials also reported ongoing digital propaganda campaigns by both Iran and Russia aimed at influencing American voters. The divergent objectives seem evident: Russia possibly favoring former President Donald Trump, while Iran appears to prefer his defeat. However, the ultimate goal for both nations remains to undermine trust in the democratic process and potentially trigger violence either before or after the elections.

Current cyber operations linked to Iran have reportedly struggled to gain traction. These include campaigns to steal and release materials from Trump's campaign and the creation of fake American news websites. Tehran has consistently denied these accusations. Max Lesser, a senior analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, commented on these tactics, emphasizing the directness and efficiency of personalized outreach compared to broader digital disinformation campaigns.

A declassified U.S. intelligence memo from October 8 revealed additional details on how Iranian military intelligence might be acquiring personal information on American voters. As of August 2023, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had supposedly identified data on U.S. voters available on leak websites, which could be leveraged for targeted disinformation campaigns. Earlier in February, IRGC cyber actors reportedly accessed a U.S. state government’s election network domain, potentially obtaining data on voter registrations.

Previous Iranian operations also targeted the run-up to the 2020 election. A Justice Department indictment later revealed that Iranian hackers had obtained U.S. voter information and sent threatening emails to registered Democrats in Florida, posing as members of the pro-Trump Proud Boys militia. Google reported catching 90% of the 25,000 threatening emails sent through Gmail.

The international context shows a similar pattern. Last month, Israel accused Iran and Hezbollah of hacking a commercial messaging service to send five million threatening texts to Israeli citizens. Meanwhile, in Sweden, the Anzu Team, allegedly a front for the IRGC, hacked into a Swedish SMS service last year, sending calls for violent retribution following Quran burnings in the country.

U.S. officials continue to monitor these developments closely, aware of the potential for Iran and other foreign actors to disrupt the democratic process and sow discord within the United States.