Iran may be activating sleeper cells outside of the country, according to an alert that was intercepted by the US.
The encrypted communications, believed to have come from inside Iran, was sent as an ‘operational trigger’ for ‘sleeper assets,’ according to ABC News.
Sleeper cells are agents or terrorists planted in countries who blend in with normal civilians until they are needed to carry out an attack.
The message was transmitted across multiple countries shortly after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was obliterated in a joint Israeli-US airstrike in Tehran on February 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has since been named the new Supreme Leader.
There have been heightened fears across the US in the last week that covert agents laying low in America may be triggered to retaliate after the war in Iran erupted.
Preliminary signals analysis has led the US to believe the message was ‘likely of Iranian origin,’ and was sent to ‘clandestine recipients,’ who have a passcode.
Because the message had ‘international rebroadcast characteristics’ American intelligence believes its likely that it could be for sleeper cells. There was no operational threat tied to a specific location, the outlet said.
According to the outlet, the alert’s nature was similar to that which imparts instructions to ‘covert operatives or sleeper assets’ without the use of the internet.
Iranians gather at Enqelab Square to show support for the newly appointed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran
Fire breaks out at the Shahran oil depot after US and Israeli attacks
The transmissions could ‘be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,’ the alert said, per ABC News.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, former DHS senior adviser and Secret Service supervisor Charles Marino said the nation is facing a ‘convergence’ of threats – from Iran-aligned lone wolves to potential sleeper cells.
‘Is it possible you have 10, 15, 20 people in the country that are part of a cell that then go out and carry out simultaneous or near-simultaneous attacks? Yes,’ Marino said.
He warned that terrorists seeking maximum carnage would likely target ‘soft’ venues: crowded events, such as concerts and sports matches, public spaces and mass gatherings.
Among the looming concerns is the upcoming World Cup, designated a National Special Security Event. The tournament will draw massive crowds and global attention – precisely the type of stage extremist groups crave.
The violent US-Israeli war against Iran in the Middle East raged on Monday.
On Sunday, a seventh US service member was confirmed to have been killed in the war.
On Sunday, a seventh US service member was confirmed to have been killed in the war. Six others were honored in a dignified transfer ceremony on Saturday
President Trump attended the first dignified transfer ceremony for the six other soldier’s who were killed in the Iran war.
The six Americans who were killed on March 1 were Army reservists with the 103rd Sustainment Command based out of Des Moines, Iowa.
Nicole Amor, 39, Cody Khork, 35, Declan Coady, 20, Robert Marzan, 54, Jeffrey O’Brien, 45 and Noah Tietjens, 42, died in the conflict.
The latest comes as a US and Israel summit was scrapped on Monday after after Israel targeted Iran’s oil depots in a blitz that shocked the White House and marked the first open disagreement between the allies since the war began.
Thirty Iranian fuel depots were obliterated over the weekend with apocalyptic images showing fires leaping into the sky, huge columns of smoke, and black oily rain falling from the sky.
White House officials were stunned by the scale of Israel’s bombardment and concerned that images of burning oil would anger Americans facing increased gas prices – up to $3.4 per gallon on average compared to $2.9 before the war started.
‘The president doesn’t like the attack. He wants to save the oil. He doesn’t want to burn it. And it reminds people of higher gas prices,’ a Trump adviser told Axios.
An Israeli official said the message from the US was stark: ‘What the f***’.
This is a breaking news story.
