Security agencies in the United States said they had received highly credible information this week that Iranian hackers had created a website which featured death threats aimed at U.S. election officials.
The website, titled Enemies of the People, launched during the U.S. presidential election and included content which accused U.S. officials overseeing election security of treason. The site targeted FBI directors and several employees of Dominion Voting Systems, a company producing voting machines.
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran in a series of tweets that any loss of American life in Iraq would result in Washington holding Iran responsible, after a rocket attack hit the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
A statement issued by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) alleged that the attack was “almost certainly carried out by an Iranian-backed militia group.” Local media in Iraq reported that the missiles were fired at Baghdad’s diplomatic quarter, and left one Iraqi soldier injured.
In an act of deterrence, submarines from Israel and the U.S. surfaced in the Persian Gulf, following concerns that Iran was planning retaliatory strikes after the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a nuclear scientist alleged to have been the mastermind behind a covert operation to develop Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the assassination.
In a rare move, the Pentagon released the location of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine, which contains 154 long-range missiles and four mini submarines equipped with intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance devices.
And Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, said Trump would meet the same fate as Saddam Hussein once he left office. A former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein was hanged in a prison in Baghdad after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
The comment was passed during a cabinet meeting in which Rouhani also likened Trump’s policies towards the Islamic Republic to those employed by Saddam Hussein against Iran when he was in power.
