Washington: On Tuesday (local time), the US Treasury levied further penalties on Russian and Iranian organizations that are alleged to have tried to influence the US presidential election of 2024.

According to The Washington Post, the organizations are charged with attempting to influence the US elections by disseminating misleading material using artificial intelligence.

In a formal statement, the US Treasury said it was sanctioning an affiliate of Russia’s military intelligence agency and a subsidiary of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for their attempts to “stoke sociopolitical tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 election.”

Additionally, according to The Washington Post, the Treasury said that the Russian organization generated “baseless accusations” against a 2024 vice presidential contender and “quickly created disinformation that would be distributed across a massive network” of fake news websites using AI techniques.

Minor enterprises that are unlikely to have a significant impact on both nations’ economies were the focus of the penalties. But given the already worsening relationship between Russia and Iran, these sanctions represent yet another setback.

Bradley Smith, acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at Treasury, said in a statement, “The governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns.” “The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy,” he added.

The Washington Post reports that the Treasury placed sanctions on the Aleksandr Dugin-funded Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE), a Moscow-based organization. The group was previously sanctioned by the Treasury in 2015.

The Russian military intelligence agency that “oversees sabotage, political interference operations, and cyberwarfare” against the West is said to have collaborated with CGE.

The Treasury claimed in its statement that the center was financially supported and guided by the intelligence agency to influence the 2024 presidential election. According to Treasury, the center used that assistance to run a network of “at least 100 websites” for its “disinformation operations,” which spread misleading information.

“CGE and its personnel used generative AI tools to quickly create disinformation that would be distributed across a massive network of websites designed to imitate legitimate news outlets to create false corroboration between the stories as well as to obfuscate their Russian origin,” the statement from the Treasury Department stated.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard subsidiary Cognitive Design Production Center was also subject to the restrictions because of its “influence operations.”