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The Biden administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions against Russia and Iran in response to both countries’ efforts to influence the 2024 election.
“The governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our electoral processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” said Bradley T. Smith, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in a statement.
“The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”
The sanctions target the Center for Cognitive Design Production, a division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Center for Geopolitical Experience and its director Valery Mikhailovich Korovin, both affiliated with the Main Directorate of Russian Intelligence, also known as the GRU.
“These actors sought to inflame sociopolitical tensions and undermine our electoral institutions during the 2024 United States general election,” the State Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
Both build on existing sanctions against the two countries and come after US intelligence agencies campaigns identified from each nation to undermine the 2024 election by dividing Americans and promoting disinformation.
In a series of calls with reporters before the election, intelligence officials said both countries were building on past efforts, creating more sophisticated fake content and relying on artificial intelligence to augment their efforts
Russia was behind several fake videos, including one accusing Vice President Harris of being involved in a hit-and-run.
Iran also devoted more resources to promoting disinformation in Spanish.
The intelligence community assessed that while Russia intended to help President-elect Trump win the election, Iran preferred Harris.
Tuesday’s sanctions were not the first response to Russian interference.
The Justice Department before the election seized 32 different web domains, many of which appeared to be legitimate news sites like The Washington Post, but which promoted content in line with Russian narratives.
This included numerous false articles about his war with Ukraine.
And in a separate indictment, the Justice Department charged two employees associated with RT, formerly known as Russia Today, with contracting with a U.S.-based media company to pay undercover conservative commentators known as Tim Pool and Benny Johnson to promote Russian narratives. .
The two men have said they did not know the true backers of the effort after receiving information about a fake investor and never changed its content.
Tuesday’s sanctions, however, did not target China, another country that US intelligence identified as active in trying to influence the election.
China expanded its influence efforts by creating fake social media accounts to “push narratives and sow division,” mirroring efforts deployed by Russia in previous elections. However, the country was not found to be taking steps to promote either candidate.
