Cyberattack on Republican Donald Trump's campaign, allegations it was carried out by Iran

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's campaign team announced On Saturday a cyberattack on campaign communications and said the iranian government was responsible, citing past hostilities between Trump and Iran, without providing direct evidence.

The statement was distributed shortly after the Politico news site reported that it received emails in July from an anonymous source providing original documents for internal use by the Trump campaign, including a report on "potential weaknesses" of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

"These duties have been taken illegally by foreign elements hostile to the United States, who intend to interfere in the 2024 election and stir chaos during our democratic process," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

In a post on his Truth Social network on Saturday night, Trump said Microsoft had informed his campaign managers that Iran had hacked one of its websites. He blamed Iran, adding that "hackers had only been able to provide information that is public." He did not provide more details about the cyber attack.

Reuters news agency has failed to independently verify the identity of the suspected hackers or their intentions.

Trump's campaign team referred to a report by Microsofit researchers on Friday. Who said hackers linked to the Iranian government tried in June to hack into the account of a "senior official" of the U.S. presidential campaign.

The hackers had managed to gain control of a former political adviser's account and then used it to carry out a cyber attack on the official, the report said.

The report did not provide more details on the identity of individuals targeted by hackers.

A Microsoft spokesman declined to disclose the names of the officials and provide more details after the attack.

Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said in an email that "the government of Iran does not intend to interfere in the U.S. presidential election."

"We do not believe such reports," the reaction said, in response to claims by Trump's campaign team.

The former president had a strained relationship with Iran during his time in the White House. During his presidency, the United States assassinating Iranian military commando Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and pulled out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran.

Former President Trump survived an assassination attempt in July. Although there is no indication that the suspect was linked to Iran, CNN reported last month that the United States had received information about an Iranian plot against the former president. Iran has dismissed the accusations.