TEHERAN • Iran and Russia have strongly denied American allegations of having taken actions to influence public opinion ahead of the Nov 3 US presidential election.
Washington had accused Iran of sending "spoofed" e-mails to Americans "designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage" President Donald Trump less than two weeks before the vote.
According to US director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe, Iran had also distributed a video that implies that people could send in fraudulent ballots, including from outside the United States.
The US authorities "have put forward a baseless claim on the verge of the country's election so that they would advance their undemocratic and predefined scenario through shifting the blame", Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said yesterday in a statement, after summoning the Swiss ambassador.
The Swiss embassy in Teheran has handled US interests in Iran, since ties were cut in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Mr Khatibzadeh called the accusations "fabricated and clumsy", and repeated Iran's stance that it favours neither Mr Trump nor his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Tensions between Washington and Teheran have risen sharply since 2018, when Mr Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran and reimposed crippling sanctions in a policy of "maximum pressure" against the Islamic republic.
Also pointing the finger at Russia, Mr Ratcliffe said both Teheran and Moscow seek to "communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine confidence in American democracy".
The Kremlin dismissed the accusations as "absolutely groundless".
"Accusations are raining down every day. All of them are absolutely groundless, they are not based on anything," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The US announcement came after registered Democratic voters reported receiving personally addressed e-mails in the name of the Proud Boys militia, and from an Internet domain linked to the Proud Boys. A number of voters in Florida and other key battleground states said they had received the messages.
"You will vote for Trump on election day or we will come after you," the e-mails said.
Mr Ratcliffe, with FBI director Christopher Wray beside him, did not explain how the Russians and Iranians had obtained the voter information, or how the Russians might be using it.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
