US intelligence officials say Iran to blame for hack of Trump campaign

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens at a business roundtable discussion at a campaign event at Precision Components Group (Julia Nikhinson/AP)

The US intelligence community has said that Iran is to blame for the hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The joint statement from the FBI and other federal agencies was the first formal attribution of the hack to a foreign entity.

The Trump campaign had previously said Iran was responsible.

The FBI and other federal agencies said Iran perceived this year’s US presidential election to be particularly consequential and was determined through the hacking operation and other activities to interfere in American politics and “to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions”.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena on August 17 (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

A joint statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said: “We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns.”

The statement added that Iranian hackers have “sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties”.

The FBI has also been investigating other attempts to gain access to Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign.