It should come as no surprise that, once again, hostile foreign powers -- namely Russia, Iran, and China -- are reportedly attempting to hack and influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Just days after an explosive report about exactly that, the FBI is reportedly investigating an alleged hacking of former President Donald Trump's campaign by Iranian regime-linked actors, according to Fox News.

The Trump campaign confirmed that it was breached by suspected Iranian hackers and acknowledged that certain sensitive documents and internal communications were stolen during the breach that allegedly occurred in June.

Suspected Iranian hackers targeted Trump's campaign

Last week, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center issued a report that outlined the "foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election" it had observed from hackers associated with Russia, Iran, and China, and noted the "emergence of significant influence activity by Iranian actors."

"Iranian actors have recently laid the groundwork for influence operations aimed at US audiences and potentially seeking to impact the 2024 US presidential election," the report stated. "This recent cyber-enabled influence activity arises from a combination of actors which are conducting initial cyber reconnaissance and seeding online personas and websites into the information space."

In a breakdown of different identified foreign hacker groups, the MTAC report highlighted one in particular linked to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that allegedly "sent a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor. The phishing email contained a fake forward with a hyperlink that directs traffic through an actor-controlled domain before redirecting to the listed domain."

Internal communications and documents stolen from campaign

While that MTAC report did not specify which presidential campaign was targeted by the IRGC-linked group, Politico reported both that the Trump campaign confirmed that it had been hacked and that the outlet was in possession of at least some of the hacked materials, which it had received from an anonymous online source.

The materials, which were confirmed as authentic, included an early vetting dossier on Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), and others who'd been in contention to be the vice presidential nominee, along with internal campaign discussions about some of the candidates and documents related to Trump's ongoing legal cases.

The confirmation of the suspected Iranian hack of the Trump campaign followed closely on the heels of reports last month about Iranian efforts to try to assassinate the former president, ostensibly in retaliation for the lethal 2020 airstrike on deceased IRGC head Qassem Soleimani -- though there doesn't appear to be any known link between Iran and the assassination attempt at a Trump rally.

Trump campaign responds to hacking report

In a statement to Politico, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, "These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process."

"On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers broke into the account of a 'high ranking official' on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee," he continued, though he declined to provide any details about any purported discussions with Microsoft or federal law enforcement about the incident.

As for why the Iranian regime has targeted Trump and his campaign, Cheung surmised, "The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House."

Roger Stone's email suspected of being source of Iranian hack

As for how the Iranian hackers gained access to the Trump campaign, CNN reported that former Trump adviser Roger Stone's email account was used to trick an unnamed campaign official into opening a phishing link in a false email message.

An attorney for Stone told the outlet that his client "was contacted about this matter by Microsoft and the FBI and continues to cooperate with both," and added, "Mr. Stone will have no further comment at this time."