Indictment Issued Against Three IRGC Members and Sanctions on Seven Individuals for Interference in U.S. Elections

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department has stated that seven individuals have been added to its sanctions list as part of the U.S. government's coordinated response to Iran's attempts to influence or interfere in the two presidential elections in 2020 and 2024. Concurrently, the U.S. government announced on Friday, October 6, that it has filed criminal charges against three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for attempting cyber infiltration into Donald Trump's campaign headquarters and disrupting the U.S. presidential election. According to a statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department, Iranian government-supported actors have attempted to undermine trust in U.S. electoral processes and institutions through various malicious cyber activities, such as hacking, disclosure, and targeted phishing. The indictment issued is the latest U.S. effort to counter foreign interference in its presidential elections, which will take place on November 5. The Islamic Republic has previously denied any interference in the U.S. presidential elections. Donald Trump's campaign, the Republican candidate, stated that it had been targeted by Iranian hackers but noted that the attackers were unable to access private information. Several news outlets have also reported that they refrained from publishing internal campaign documents that were offered to them. According to the statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department, Masoud Jalili and other members of the IRGC have been attempting since at least May 2024 to steal information from several officials and advisors of the 2024 presidential campaign and provide it to media or other individuals. These actions are aimed at influencing the upcoming U.S. presidential election and infiltrating technical infrastructures by Jalili. He has also been identified as responsible for malicious cyber operations that targeted a former U.S. government official in 2022. In that year, Jalili attempted to compromise the personal accounts of this former U.S. official through phishing. Accordingly, the U.S. Treasury Department has frozen Masoud Jalili's assets and blocked his accounts. Additionally, the Department of Justice has issued an indictment against him and two accomplices who are IRGC members, and under the State Department's 'Rewards for Justice' program, a reward of up to $10 million has been set for information leading to their exposure. The U.S. Treasury Department has also added several employees and executives of an Iranian cybersecurity company to its sanctions list for their involvement in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In this regard, besides Masoud Jalili, six employees of the cybersecurity company 'ImenNet Pasargad' are also included in the latest sanctions list; a company previously known as 'Net Pegar Samavat.' The U.S. Treasury Department has stated that these individuals attempted through cyber operations to intimidate and undermine the trust of American voters and sought to create division and discord in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In November 2021, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury identified 'Pasargad Security' as a cybersecurity company attempting to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election and sanctioned five of its employees for acting, or claiming to act, on behalf of this company. Ali Mahdavian, Fatemeh Sadeghi, and Elaheh Yazdi are three of the sanctioned employees of this company who were previously listed in the State Department's 'Rewards for Justice' program in November 2023. Mehdi Rahimi Hajabadi, Mohammad Hossein Abdolrahimi, and Rahmatollah Askari Zadeh are also other sanctioned employees of 'ImenNet Pasargad,' whose assets and properties have been frozen. The U.S. Treasury Department has also announced that 'Net Pegar Samavat' participated in a malicious cyber campaign to access and implant malware in the computer systems of current and former U.S. intelligence agents. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, it is likely that 'Net Pegar Samavat' changed its name to 'ImenNet Pasargad' to evade sanctions and continue its malicious cyber activities after its identity was revealed.