U. S.: Iran is behind emails to voters

WASHINGTON — U. S. officials accused Iran on Wednesday of being behind a flurry of emails sent to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states that appeared to be aimed at intimidating them into voting for President Trump.

The officials did not lay out evidence for how they came to pinpoint Iran, but the activities attributed to Tehran would mark a significant escalation for a country some cybersecurity experts regard as a secondrate player.

“These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries,” said John Ratcliffe, the government’s top intelligence official.

The two officials called out both Russia and Iran for having obtained voter registration information, though such data is sometimes easily accessible and there was no allegation either country had hacked a database for it. Iran used the information to push out spoofed emails, officials said, and also created a video that Ratcliffe said falsely suggested that voters could cast fraudulent ballots from overseas.

Officials said Democratic voters in at least four states, including such battleground locations as Pennsylvania, Florida and Arizona, got the emails. The messages falsely purported to be from the farright group Proud Boys and warned that “we will come after you” if the recipients didn’t vote for Trump.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Iran atthe United Nations, denied Tehran had anything to do with the alleged voter intimidation.