The US has slapped new sanctions on five Iranian entities for what it called “brazen attempts” to interfere with the US election.
Stepping up pressure after US intelligence pointed the finger at both Iran and Russia, the Treasury Department accused the Iranian groups of seeking to spread disinformation and division ahead of the November 3 vote.
Tehran responded on Friday night by imposing sanctions on the US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, citing “terrorist” acts against its interests.
The US imposed the fresh sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC-Quds Force, the Bayan Rasaneh Gostar Institute, the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union and International Union of Virtual Media. The groups have worked to “sow discord among the voting populace by spreading disinformation online and executing malign influence operations aimed at misleading US voters”, the Treasury said.
Bayan Gostar, which the Treasury called an IRGC-Quds Force “front company” for propaganda, took the lead in the activities, it said. Ahead of the election, “Bayan Gostar personnel have planned to influence the election by exploiting social issues within the United States, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and denigrating US political figures,” it said.
“As recently as summer 2020, Bayan Gostar was prepared to execute a series of influence operations directed at the US populace ahead of the presidential election.”
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).