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Wednesday 6 November 2024

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 27, 2024. (West Asia News Agency/Handout via Reuters)
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 27, 2024. (West Asia News Agency/Handout via Reuters)

Foreign adversaries used increasingly sophisticated meddling operations to target the November 5 U.S. presidential race between Democratic party candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican party opponent, former President Donald Trump.

Iran has sought to influence and interfere with the results of the poll by promoting disinformation narratives favorable to its own foreign policy goals.

The societal division in the U.S. and predictions of "post-election unrest," as well as depictions of the United States’ support for Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as Americans’ historic "support for genocide," dominated the Iranian state-controlled media coverage of the U.S. elections.

An Iran-operated network of social media accounts and fake news sites targeted U.S. voters on opposite ends of the political spectrum with polarizing messaging.

In the days before the election, Press TV, a state-owned English language outlet, has run analyses and news items depicting the United States as a "defunct" nation, which the presidential elections only amplified.

"As America heads to the polls, the only certainty seems to be that division, disunity, dissatisfaction and maybe even disfunction aren’t going away anytime soon," Press TV analyst Ramin Mazaheri said in a November 4 report that exemplifies the overall coverage.

Iran has long accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Israel says it is Iran who is responsible for the violence in Gaza and Lebanon, citing Tehran’s decades-long effort to destroy Israel via proxy forces.

Iran uses UN meetings to attack Israel, whitewash destabilizing actions
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Tehran-based commentator Alireza Akbar wrote for Press TV that in supporting Israel, both Harris and Trump are no exception from their predecessors and that "US presidents have always been on the side of genocide, massacres and holocausts."

Speaking with Press TV in October, U.S. academic and Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Rectenwald likewise said "[b]oth Harris and Trump will continue to support Israel's psychopathic genocidal rampages."

Press TV has repeatedly promoted the narrative that Harris’ support for Israel could cost her the election among Muslim voters, and repeated claims she is responsible for civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

In one November 4 report, Press TV correspondent Mazaheri said that "Vice President Kamala Harris’ participation in the Gaza genocide has shocked voters of all types," adding "polls show Muslim Americans are capable of tipping the balance."

The Israel-Hamas war, and its impact on civilians in the Gaza Strip, is a key issue for Arab and Muslim American voters, particularly in Michigan, a key swing state.

During a rally in Michigan on Sunday, Harris vowed to do "everything in her power" to stop the Israel-Hamas war if elected president.

Sources told The Times of Israel in late October that Trump wanted the war in Gaza to conclude before he returns to office if he wins the election.

Researchers at Microsoft found disinformation narratives similar to those on Press TV being amplified by covert news sites and social media accounts.

Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) reported on October 23, that its researchers discovered an "Iranian operated cyber persona" called "Bushnell’s Men," named after Aaron Bushnell, who died after setting himself on fire outside Israel’s embassy in Washington, D.C., in February.

Microsoft reported ‘’Bushnell’s Men’’ attempted to foment anti-Israeli protests in the United States and Europe, and had called on call on Americans to "sit out the elections."

Microsoft also reported that "four websites masquerading as news outlets are actively engaging US voter groups on opposing ends of the political spectrum with polarizing messaging on issues such as the US presidential candidates, LGBTQ rights, and the Israel-Hamas conflict."

One of those websites with a left-leaning bent, called Nio Thinker, published an article criticizing the "democratic party’s deafening silence on Palestine," Al Monitor reported.

While Harris features prominently in more recent Press TV reports, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Microsoft researchers earlier documented how Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have sought to undermine the campaign of Trump in this and previous elections.

That included what the Department of the Treasury in September called Iranian state-sponsored "spear-phishing" and "hack-and-leak operations" intended to "undermine confidence in the United States’ election processes and institutions and to interfere with political campaigns."

A September New York Times report found that Iran’s targeting of President Joe Biden and Harris along with Trump may reflect "a wider goal of sowing internal discord and discrediting the democratic system in the United States more broadly in the eyes of the world."

That report cited two Iranian officials who said Tehran was "unconcerned" over who won the presidential race, claiming "Washington's animosity transcends either political party."

In July, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned that Iran "is seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions," and "opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza."

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, right, hosted delegation-level talks with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Islamabad on Nov. 5, 2024. (Courtesy Pakistani FO)
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, right, hosted delegation-level talks with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Islamabad on Nov. 5, 2024. (Courtesy Pakistani FO)

Iran's chief diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran opposes military escalation in the region but "will certainly respond" to the deadly Oct. 26 strike by Israel against his country.

During an official visit to neighboring Pakistan, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed the Israeli attack on Iranian military bases and other installations, resulting in the deaths of at least five people, mostly security personnel.

"Unlike the Israeli regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek escalation. However, we reserve our inherent right to legitimate defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter," he told a joint news conference in Islamabad with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar.

"We would certainly respond to the Israeli aggression in a proper time and in a proper manner in a very measured and well-calculated manner," Araghchi said without elaborating further.

Israeli warplanes conducted the October 26 strikes, saying they were in retaliation for Tehran's missile barrage on October 1. Iran described its military action as a response to the killing of militant leaders backed by Tehran and a commander from the Revolutionary Guards.

On Sunday, Iranian state media quoted President Masoud Pezeshkian as saying that a potential cease-fire between its regional allies and Israel "could affect the intensity and type of" Iran's response to the Israeli attack.

Dar stated Tuesday that during discussions with his Iranian counterpart, both sides condemned the "unrestrained Israeli aggression" in the Middle East and emphasized the urgent need for a "cease-fire" and "de-escalation."

Gas pipeline

Araghchi said that during his meetings in Islamabad, he also stressed the need to boost political, economic, commercial, and energy cooperation between Iran and Pakistan. He described terrorism as a mutual threat for both countries and urged enhanced cooperation.

The two foreign ministers did not discuss the status of a long-stalled multi-billion-dollar pipeline, though, intended to export Iranian natural gas to energy-starved Pakistan.

The United States is opposed to the project as a violation of its sanctions on Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Under a 2009 gas sales and purchase agreement for the cross-border pipeline, the Iranian side must supply Pakistan with up to 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day from Iran's South Pars Field. However, the project has been on hold since then.

Iranian officials have long announced that the 900-kilometer pipeline is completed on their side of the border. Pakistani officials say they have not started constructing their portion of the pipeline for fear of being slapped with U.S. sanctions.

Tehran has been pressing Islamabad to uphold its end of the project or pay a reported financial penalty of up to $18 billion for delaying it.

Pakistan has recently hired the services of two U.S.-based law firms to represent the country at the International Court of Arbitration in anticipation of a potential situation in which Iran may compel Islamabad to fulfill its obligations or face financial penalties.

The move followed Tehran's reported final notice to Islamabad in August before seeking arbitration from the Paris-based body.

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