How Iran is quickly catching up with Russia's election meddling capabilities

Former Special Robert Mueller's Wednesday testimony had one unmistakeably takeaway: Russian election meddling is a massive threat.

American intelligence officials agree that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and as Mueller put it Wednesday, they're continuing to do so "as we sit here." But more countries than just Russia are capable of attacking the U.S. electoral system, and they've been doing so for years, a report from The Washington Post reveals.

On Wednesday, Mueller warned that Russia's 2016 interference "wasn't a single attempt," and that "many more countries" were already borrowing its tactics. Those countries include "Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela," researchers tell the Post — though "it's often not clear" if official governments or other actors are doing the meddling. But with "rising tensions between Iran and the United States," it has become clear that Tehran will only become a bigger player in spreading disinformation across American social media, human rights lawyer Simin Kargar tells the Post.

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Like Russian social media operations, Iranian disinformation accounts have often expanded from state-run operations. But unlike Russia's, they tend to voice only one side of a political issue, mostly taking the side opposite President Trump's, the Post notes. For example, "of 1,666 Iranian accounts taken down by Twitter in June ... Trump was mentioned more than 1,400 times — almost always in critical ways," the Post writes. And these operations aren't going anywhere. As Kagar put it, "I wouldn't be surprised if the Iranians weren’t trying to expand their operations for the coming election" and "trying to harness as much division as possible."

Read more about Iran and Saudi Arabia's disinformation campaigns at The Washington Post.