The United States sanctioned six Iranians and one Iranian cyber company on Thursday for attempting to sow discord ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, as the Department of Justice announced it had indicted two of the Iranians for their alleged involvement. 

Between August and November 2020, a group of state-sponsored Iranian cyber actors obtained or attempted to obtain voter information from 11 state election websites, according to a five-count indictment unsealed in a New York federal court. Prosecutors accused Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi, 24, and Sajjad Kashian, 27, of participation in the cyber campaign, which included successfully hacking the computer system of an unidentified US state and downloading data on more than 100,000 of that state’s voters.  

They also sent thousands of emails purporting to be from the white nationalist Proud Boys group to registered Democrats threatening physical harm if they did not switch parties and vote for then-President Donald Trump, prosecutors said. 

The emails, which included the recipients’ names and addresses, read in part: “We are in possession of all your information (email, address, telephone ... everything). ... You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. ... I would take this seriously if I were you.”