Iran issued a warning to US President Donald Trump regarding potential attacks within the United States by sleeper cells, should the US conduct strikes on its nuclear facilities, as reported.
In the days preceding ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’, Iran cautioned US President Donald Trump that it could execute attacks within the United States through sleeper cells if the US were to strike its nuclear facilities, as reported.
Despite this warning, the United States conducted airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan on Saturday as part of Operation Midnight Hammer. In response to Iran’s vow of retaliation, the United States is maintaining a heightened state of alert both domestically and internationally.
According to NBC News, Iran communicated a message to Trump through an intermediary, indicating that it could activate its sleeper cells within the United States to execute terrorist attacks should the US launch strikes against Iran.
The report indicated that this message was delivered to Trump during the G7 Summit in Canada earlier this month. Trump departed the G7 Summit early on June 16 due to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.
Sleeper cells are defined as groups of terrorists or spies who are embedded within the general population, appearing as ordinary citizens. These individuals maintain regular employment and lead typical lives until they receive directives from their handlers to initiate operations. Occasionally, they may reside in their communities for several years, or even decades, before being activated for missions or discovered by national security agencies.
The threat posed by sleeper cells has reportedly reached unprecedented levels.
A federal law enforcement agency issued a warning on Sunday—the same day the United States targeted Iranian nuclear facilities—stating that the risk of sleeper cells has “never been higher”.
In a memo reported by NewsNation, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that the threat of sleeper cells has “never been higher”.
The memo further stated that “thousands of Iranian nationals have been documented entering the United States illegally, and countless more are likely among those known and unknown to have evaded detection.”
On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a warning that the “Iran conflict is creating an elevated threat environment in the United States,” as reported by NBC News.
The DHS indicated that there may be a rise in terrorist attacks within the United States “if Iranian leadership were to issue a religious decree calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland.” Additionally, the DHS cautioned about potential cyberattacks on US networks and assaults on current and former US government officials whom Iran holds responsible for the assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2020.
