 "Iran threatened Trump with sleeper cell attacks in case of US strikes: Report")
In the days leading up to the ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’, Iran had warned US President Donald Trump that it could carry out attacks inside the United States via sleeper cells in case of US strikes on its nuclear sites, according to a report.
Irrespective of such a threat, the United States on Saturday bombed Iranian nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan in Operation Midnight Hammer. As Iran has vowed retaliation, the United States is on alert domestically and abroad as well.
NBC News has reported that Iran sent a message to Trump via an intermediary that told him that Iran could activate its sleeper cells inside the United States to carry out terrorist attacks in case of any US strikes inside Iran.
The report said the message was conveyed to Trump during the G7 Summit in Canada earlier this month. Trump left the G7 Summit early on June 16 in the wake of the Israel-Iran war.
Sleeper cells refer to groups of terrorists or spies integrated in the general population just like any other common persons. These people have regular jobs and live regular lives unless they receive orders by their handlers to carry out operations. Sometimes, they may live regular lives in their communities for several years, even decades, before being activated for operations or being discovered by the country’s security agencies.
Sleeper cell threat has ’never been higher’
A federal law enforcement agency warned on Sunday —the same day the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities— that the threat of sleeper cells has “never been higher”.
In a memo reported by NewsNation, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that the threat of sleeper cells has “never been higher”.
The memo said that “thousands of Iranian nationals have been documented entering the United States illegally and countless more were likely in the known and unknown got-a-ways”.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSeparately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned on Sunday that the “Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States”, according to NBC News.
The DHS said that there could be an increase in terrorist attacks in the United States “if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland”. The DHS also warned of cyberattacks on US networks and attacks on current and former US government officials whom Iran blames for the assassination top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in a US airstrike.
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