U.S. Blames Iran For Threatening Election Emails, Says Russia May Interfere Too
Iranian influence specialists are behind threatening election emails sent to voters in Alaska and Florida, U.S. officials said on Wednesday evening and suggested that more such interference could be in store from Russia.
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said the U.S. intelligence community believes Iranian and Russian operatives obtained voter-record information, which enabled Iran to target some people with intimidating emails based on party registration about how they’d better vote for President Trump “or else.”
The senders posed as members of the white supremacist Proud Boys and claimed they had voter data that revealed for whom their targets voted — but that was a false flag, the U.S. says.
Ratcliffe sought to reassure Americans about the integrity of their votes and the processes by which elections are run.
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“These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries,” Ratcliffe said, but pledged confidence in American elections and said, “You can be confident your votes are secured.”
Notice follows months of warnings
Russian influence specialists don’t appear to have used their voter data in a similar scheme, Ratcliffe said, but they may.
His warning followed months of similar cautions by U.S. officials about the threats of interference posed by foreign actors, which have never abated since the historic spike of Russian “active measures” in the 2016 election on behalf of President Trump.
Since then, however, Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray said, U.S. officials have worked to toughen America’s election infrastructure and have become more vigilant about election security — work they said has paid off with the awareness demonstrated Wednesday night.
“We are not going to let our guard down,” Wray said.
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have kept up a drumbeat of regular bulletins about what they call the latest intelligence about prospective election cyberthreats.
Iran’s Army, IRGC Kick Off Joint Aerial Drills
The Iranian Army and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) started joint aerial wargames codenamed ‘Modafe’ one Aseman-e Velayat 99′ (Guardians of Velayat’s Sky-99) on Wednesday.
“In the first phase of the drills, the expansion and deployment of defense systems including missile, radar, and defense systems with an emphasis on the mobility and rapid response of operational forces, as well as the principles of passive defense to deceive the enemy were carried out.
In the next stage, a secure and multi-layered connection has been established between the defense systems and the country’s integrated air defense network to make respond to relevant threats,” Spokesman of the Wargames General Abbas Farajpour told reporters on Wednesday.
He added that coordination, command, and control of the air defense operations of the Armed Forces to strengthen the coherent and effective air defense against any air threat in the form of an integrated air defense network and under the command and operational planning of the country’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base is one of the main objectives of the exercises.
“In the joint drills, the Army and IRGC officers will exercise side by side fighting actual threats in the Joint Operations Command (SOC) headquarters under the operational guidance and control of the country’s Air Defense Base and the direct supervision of assessors and observers of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base,” General Farajpour said.
He stated that tactical and defensive action by ground-based reconnaissance and combat systems against aggressive aircraft and exercising all stages of air defense, including detection, reconnaissance, interception, combat, and electronic strike (cold firing) under the command of the country’s integrated air defense network is among the measures that will be adopted in the drills.
General Farajpour said that deployment of Fakour and Ashura tactical command and control systems, indigenous radar systems.
Foreign terror cells the backbone of Iran’s IRGC
Since 1979, Iran has set up many terrorist cells in foreign nations and trained and armed militants abroad in order to pursue its hegemonic ambitions, export its revolutionary ideals, carry out assassinations, and undermine other countries’ national interests and scuttle their foreign policy objectives.
After the Iran-Iraq War, the ruling clergy became very interested in creating terror cells in other countries because they give the regime several advantages, including being less costly in comparison to launching direct attacks against other countries.
These cells also give the regime the advantage of anonymity, making it very difficult for other governments to directly connect Tehran to terrorist attacks and hold the Iranian leaders accountable.
Over the last four decades, the regime has succeeded in building a worldwide network of terror cells.
Only last month, Saudi Arabia broke up an Iranian-trained cell, arresting 10 people and seizing weapons and explosives, including “electrical components used in the making of explosives such as capacitors, transformers and resistors, gunpowder, chemicals, Kalashnikov rifles, guns, sniper rifle, live ammunition, machine guns, blades, military clothes, and wireless communication devices.”
Also Read: Israel said to strike Iran-backed militia base in southern Syria
The group was trained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to a statement issued by Saudi Arabia’s Presidency of State Security. The terrorist cell had received “military and field training, including on how to make explosives.”Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior revealed last month that it had foiled a terrorist attack by a group backed by the IRGC early this year. The group called the “Qassem Soleimani Brigade,” was planning to attack several security and public structures in Bahrain.In October last year, the Albanian General Police Director Ardi Veliu revealed that an active cell of the foreign operations unit linked to the Iranian Quds Force had been detected by Albania’s security institutions.
Israel said to strike Iran-backed militia base in southern Syria
Israel said to strike Iran-backed militia base in southern Syria
Israel said to strike Iran-backed militia base in southern Syria
Syrian state media said Israel fired a missile early Wednesday at a site in the Quneitra province in southern Syria, near the border with Israel’s Golan Heights.
Payment24 CEO: Criminal in the US, service provider to Iran
Payment24 CEO: Criminal in the US, service provider to Iran
Payment24 CEO: Criminal in the US, service provider to Iran.
To the United States, he is a criminal and a threat to national security. To Iranians cut off from the international financial system by US sanctions, he was an invaluable provider of services many people in other countries take for granted.
Ukraine Demands Details from Iran on Downed Plane
Ukraine renewed on Monday its demand from Iran to receive full details about the downing of the passenger plane that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) admitted to downing earlier this year.
Ukraine and Iran kicked off on Monday the second round of talks about the downing of the jet.
The IRGC shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight with a ground-to-air missile on Jan.
8 just after the plane took off from Tehran, in what Tehran later acknowledged as a “disastrous mistake” by forces who were on high alert during a confrontation with the United States.
Also Read: Iranian Army, IRGC to Stage Joint Aerial Drills
In a July report, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization blamed a chain of mistakes – such as a misalignment of a radar system and lack of communication between the air defense operator and his commanders – for the plane crash that killed 176 aboard, including 57 Canadians. For months, Tehran has refused requests from nations that had citizens aboard the downed plane to transfer the black boxes. In July, it finally sent them to France. The scheduled three-day talks started on Monday between the Iranian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand, and the Ukrainian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Yenin, IRNA reported. Baharvand renewed his country’s regret over the accident, stressing that it has nothing to hide from Ukraine.“We are genuinely ready to inform the Ukrainian people and delegation of the details of the incident,” IRNA quoted him as saying. Iranian media quoted Yenin as stressing that his country wants thorough and accurate details of what happened, noting that its acceptance of the fine depends on the information it receives in this regard. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said during a press conference on Monday that compensation being discussed will be dedicated to the families of the victims and the airlines.
Iranian Army, IRGC to Stage Joint Aerial Drills
Lieutenant Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh announced that the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are preparing to stage joint aerial wargames codenamed ‘Modafe’one Aseman-e Velayat 99’ (Guardians of Velayat’s Sky-99) on Wednesday.
“The joint Army and IRGC wargames will start on Wednesday in a region as large as half of Iran’s area under the operational command and control of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base in a warlike situation,” General Rahimzadeh, who supervises the drills, said on Tuesday.
“Different types of home-made missile systems, radar, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and communication systems as well as optical surveillance network of the Army and the IRGC will exercise confrontation against air threats at low, medium and high altitude and long-range targets are fully operational conditions in an actual combat scenario under the operational command and control of the country’s air defense base and direct supervision of experts and evaluators of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters,” he added.
General Rahimzadeh said that in these exercises, the Army Air Force will be the stretched arm of the country’s Air Defense in the sky by flying all kinds of interceptors and bomber fighter jets as well as drones and will play two separate offensive and defensive roles.
Also Read: Woman in Iran arrested for ‘cycling without Hijab’
He added that for the first time, the new generation of completely indigenous equipment and weapons will be used in the drills and fresh air defense tactics developed as a result of continuous monitoring of the enemies will be practiced in action in a warlike situation. Iran has conducted major military drills in recent years to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and state-of-the-art equipment. Each year, the country inaugurates a host of new projects and hardware developed with reliance on domestic capabilities.
Woman in Iran arrested for ‘cycling without Hijab’
Woman in Iran arrested for ‘cycling without Hijab’
Woman in Iran arrested for ‘cycling without Hijab’
A young woman has been arrested in central Iran for “insulting the Islamic hijab”, state media said Tuesday, after a video appeared to show her cycling without a veil.
New revealation; Iran is weaponizing its nuclear program at a secret military base in Sorkheh-Hessar
