Tehran – Majid Mir Ahmadi, head of Iran's Election Security Command, has revealed that certain foreign state actors launched a multifaceted campaign to undermine Iran’s recent presidential election, aiming to decrease voter participation and sow discord. 

Iran conducted snap presidential elections in two rounds on June 28 and July 5, with voter participation rates of 40% and 50% respectively.

In an interview with Iranian media, the security official stated, "The enemies' goal was to reduce participation in the presidential election to below 20% and declare that the system lacks legitimacy based on that." He further alleged that adversaries sought to pit supporters of different candidates against each other, claiming, "The next goal of the enemy was to incite other candidates by infiltrating election headquarters and producing content in cyberspace under the guise of supporting a candidate, with some of this production being done by the Zionist regime." 

Ahmadi also outlined attempts to disrupt the election infrastructure. He stated, "Through various actions, they tried to hire individuals with criminal backgrounds and force them to disrupt election infrastructure and fiber optic networks." He added that security forces preemptively arrested a significant number of individuals suspected of planning disruptions before they could act, citing only one incident in which security guards protecting ballot boxes in Sistan and Baluchestan province were attacked. 

Two soldiers lost their lives during an attack on a vehicle transporting ballot boxes in the Jakigoor rural district of Rask County on June 28. Eight terrorists involved in the attack were arrested before voting for the second round of the presidential race had commenced. 

Ahmadi also revealed that a final stage of the hostile campaign focused on spreading allegations of fraud, a tactic he said mirrors the events of the 2009 presidential election in Iran. He asserted, "The final stage was to raise the issue of fraud and repeat the bitter experience we had in 2009." He ultimately noted that these efforts were thwarted by intelligence agencies, armed forces, and the alertness of the Iranian people. 

The 2009 post-election unrest erupted following allegations of electoral fraud made by ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rivals, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. The authorities vehemently rejected the claims as unfounded. Subsequently, the defeated candidates mobilized their supporters to call for a new election, leading to escalating protests that eventually turned violent and resulted in deadly riots.