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Iranian-backed sleeper cells could be gearing up for attacks on US soil, intelligence experts are warning.
The New York Post reports that “although no specific credible threats have yet been publicly revealed, counterterrorism agencies are already dedicating resources to thwarting potential revenge attacks on US soil.”
It’s also been suggested that the open-border policies of the Biden administration have made it easier for such groups to infiltrate the US.
“If ever there’s going to be a Hezbollah cell or a Hamas cell act in the United States in a violent way, it’s now,” Chris Swecker, a former assistant FBI director, told Fox News.
“We know that they have cells here. We also know that there are lone sympathizers, many of whom have come out in these protest groups,” he said, adding that many are likely to have come during Biden’s presidency.
“We just come off four years of open borders, and I have said before that that was an open door for terrorists to terrorist cells and terror sympathizers to infiltrate,” Swecker continued.
“Many were already here, but it’s impossible that they would not infiltrate into these particular groups and sort of act as catalysts, as enablers.”
Customs and Border Protection warned last year about Iranian sleeper cells after more than 700 Iranian nationals were allowed to remain in the US after crossing the border illegally between 2021 and 2025.
On Saturday, FBI Director Kash Patel said US intelligence agents were placed on high alert as Operation Epic Fury, the joint US-Israel strikes against Iran, began.
“Last night, I instructed our Counterterrorism and intelligence teams to be on high alert and mobilize all assisting security assets needed,” Patel wrote on X.
He said teams were working “nationwide” to combat potential threats.
“While the military handles force protection overseas, the FBI remains at the forefront of deterring attacks here at home—and will continue to have our team work around the clock to protect Americans,” Patel said.
Authorities are currently investigating whether a mass shooting in Texas on Sunday was in response to the strikes on Iran.
On early Sunday morning, Ndiaga Diagne opened fire at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden, near the University of Texas-Austin.
He killed two people and injured 14 others.
During the rampage, he wore a hoody that said, “Property of Allah,” and police found a Quran in his car.
At present, police are investigating whether the attack is linked to the joint US-Israel operation against Iran, which has already claimed the life of the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Sources claim Diagne was wearing an undershirt featuring imagery related to Iran.
Diagne, a Senegalese national, came to America in March 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa, then became a lawful resident on an IR-6 visa in June 2006, after marrying a US citizen.
He had already been arrested at least once by that point, for illegal vending in New York City, in 2001.
He was arrested at least three times between 2008 and 2016, but this didn’t prevent him become a naturalized citizen in 2013, under Obama.
Those three arrests are sealed.
Diagne was also arrested in Texas on charges that remain undisclosed.
Sources told The New York Post that Diagne was known in New York and Texas as an “emotional disturbed person.”
Diagne applied for asylum in the US in 2016, for unknown reasons.
