Iran summons Swiss envoy for US attack accusations

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador on Thursday over allegations raised by US officials that Iran is interfering in their upcoming presidential elections.

The Swiss Embassy has overseen America's interests in Tehran since the aftermath of the 1979 hostage crisis.

US officials have accused Iran of being behind a flurry of emails sent to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states that appeared to be aimed at intimidating them into voting for President Donald Trump.

The officials did not lay out specific evidence for how they came to pinpoint Iran, but the activities attributed to Tehran would mark a significant escalation for a country some cybersecurity experts regard as a second-rate player in online espionage.

The announcement was made late Wednesday at a hastily called news conference 13 days before the election.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, while rejecting the allegations and the fake reports, again emphasizes that there’s no difference for Tehran which candidate goes to the White House,” Iran's Foreign ministry said in a statement.

While state-backed Russian hackers are known to have infiltrated U.S. election infrastructure in 2016, there is no evidence that Iran has ever done so, and it was not clear how officials were able to identify Iran so quickly.