Key Points and Summary – Following recent US and Israeli strikes, a former FBI special agent is warning that Iranian sleeper cells could be hiding “in plain sight” in the United States, potentially targeting rural areas to sow chaos.
-This threat of asymmetric retaliation, which could be inspired by a fatwa from Iranian leadership, was highlighted in a June 22 Department of Homeland Security bulletin.
-Rather than direct military confrontation, Iran has a history of using proxy networks and terror cells to carry out attacks, as seen in the alleged assassination plot against Donald Trump, making the threat of sleeper agents a credible and dangerous possibility.
Iranian Terror Cells Could Target Rural America, Infrastructure, and Personnel
Speaking to Fox News, a former FBI special agent with experience on terrorism task forces claimed that Iranian sleeper cells could be hiding “in plain sight” in the United States.
According to Jonathan Gilliam, those sleeper cells may not choose conventional targets like major cities, but could be waiting to strike rural areas in the United States instead.
“Where these sleeper cells may be is in plain sight,” Gilliam told Fox. “And that’s the real terrifying part of this is that putting people in place, as we’ve seen over the past four years, everyone’s scrambling because certain amounts of people could come in here and get in here.”
Gilliam also argued that border policies under the Biden administration have put the United States at risk, with illegal Iranian immigrants likely to have entered the United States over the last four years.
What Iran Could Do to Strike Back
The former FBI special agent explained how, during the last administration, potential Iranian illegal immigrants could arrive at the border, say they want to seek asylum, and be moved across the United States instead of being placed into DHS housing or ICE housing.
Gilliam’s comments come as analysts grapple with the possibility of Iranian retaliation to U.S. and Israeli strikes, and the prospect of future military strikes as the country begins to rebuild its nuclear program.
As this outlet reported yesterday, Iran has a number of options if it intends to seek “revenge” against the West – and they largely don’t involve military action.
A report from cybersecurity firm Morphisec on July 8 confirmed the revival of “Pay2Key,” an Iranian-backed ransomware operation now targeting Western organizations – revealing that Iran is already taking steps to attack the United States through asymmetrical means.
The Sleeper Cell Threat
Similarly, the possibility of sleeper cell attacks in the United States is not a new concept; on June 22, the Department of Homeland Security issued a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) bulletin warning of a “heightened threat environment.”
The bulletin warned that if Iranian leadership issued a fatwa, an Islamic ruling calling for violence, it could inspire terrorist attacks in the United States. Specifically, the bulletin pointed to the possibility of sleeper-style actors inside the United States targeting U.S. infrastructure and personnel.
Historically, Iran – the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world – has leaned on terror networks across the world to carry out attacks. In many cases, these attacks are ordered by Iranian leadership, with individuals operating across various terror networks choosing how, where, and when to strike.
For example, when the Iranian government reportedly attempted to assassinate Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, they didn’t activate sleeper agents in the United States or attempt to smuggle operatives into the country.
Instead, according to a criminal complaint released by the Department of Justice, the job was assigned to an Afghan man living in Tehran by the name of Farhad Shakeri.
Shakeri then enlisted two New York men he met while in an American prison over ten years earlier; one a pipe fitter from Brooklyn, and another man from Staten Island.
With a history of using proxy networks to carry out terror attacks throughout the West, there’s no telling what might come next from Iran. Perhaps the only thing we know with relative certainty is that whatever they do, it won’t be a military strike on U.S. soil.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
The Best Tanks on Earth
AbramsX: The Tank the US Army Wants
