US imposes sanctions on Iran, Russia over election interference

WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia, accusing them of attempting to interfere in the 2024 US election.

The US treasury department said in a statement the entities – a subsidiary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and an organisation affiliated with Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) – aimed to “stoke socio-political tensions and influence the US electorate during the 2024 US election”.

“The governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” treasury’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.

“The US will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”

Russia’s embassy in Washington said in a statement to Reuters: “Russia has not and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the US.”

“As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, we respect the will of the American people. All insinuations about ‘Russian machinations’ are malicious slander, invented for use in the internal political struggles in the US,” the spokesman added.

Iran’s mission to the UN in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican Donald Trump was elected president in November, beating Democrat candidate Kamala Harris and capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House.

The treasury said the Cognitive Design Production Center planned influence operations since at least 2023 designed to incite tensions among the electorate on behalf of the IRGC.

The treasury accused the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) of circulating disinformation about candidates in the election as well as directing and subsidising the creation of deepfakes.

The treasury said CGE also manipulated a video to produce “baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate”. It did not specify which candidate was targeted.

The Moscow-based centre, at the direction of the GRU, used generative AI tools to create disinformation distributed across a network of websites that were designed to look like legitimate news outlets, the treasury said.

It accused the GRU of providing financial support to CGE and a network of US-based facilitators to build and maintain its AI-support server and maintain a network of at least 100 websites used in its disinformation operations.

The CGE’s director was also hit with sanctions in Tuesday’s action.

An annual US threat assessment released in October said the US sees a growing threat of Russia, Iran and China attempting to influence the elections, including by using artificial intelligence to disseminate fake or divisive information.