The U.S. State Department reportedly confirmed that it had been “responsible for a text message campaign [in Iran and Russia]... which promoted a multimillion dollar bounty for information about cyber threats to the upcoming U.S. election”; a spokesperson asserted it was “a worldwide campaign in multiple languages”. Relatedly, National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina issued a statement asserting that “Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections… Tehran’s motivation to conduct such activities is, in part, driven by a perception that President Trump’s reelection would result in a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change”. The same day, President Trump opined that “Iran would love to see me not be President. And I’ll make the statement: If and when we win, we will make deals with Iran very quickly. Iran is dying to make a deal, but they want to see because they’d much rather make a deal with Biden”. Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson on 10 August asserted that “there is no difference for the Islamic Republic of Iran which party and who will rule the U.S... certainly, we do not do any interference and it is of no importance to us”.