The FBI reportedly began increasing surveillance on Iran-backed operatives in the United States as the Trump administration was gearing up to launch airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Several sources told CBS News that the White House is working to ensure that potential Iran-backed terrorist attacks do not occur on US soil as the result of the airstrikes.
FBI Director Kash Patel has increased efforts to monitor possible domestic sleeper cells linked to Hezbollah — a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization backed by Iran — since Israel's Operation Rising Lion offensive began earlier this month, U.S. officials said.
Both the White House and FBI declined to comment.
The threat from Iranian operatives has worried current and former administration officials since Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated on Mr. Trump's orders in January 2020.
Late last year, federal prosecutors charged an operative of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and two U.S.-based people with plotting to surveil and assassinate critics of the Iranian regime. The IRGC operative allegedly told investigators he was pushed by unnamed IRGC officials to plan an attack against Mr. Trump.
For years, U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials have been concerned about Iran's ability to direct or inspire attacks within the United States — a concern that has ramped up since Soleimani's killing. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and others have devoted significant resources to countering the threat.
There are a range of potential targets. In recent years, prosecutors have charged people with plotting to kill Mr. Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton and Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad, both of whom are frequent critics of Iran's government. Bolton was granted Secret Service protection in 2021, but Mr. Trump revoked his protection this year.
Democrats: "Because of the strike on Iran, TERROR CELLS (ones we said didn't exist) WILL BE RELEASED IN THE US 😲"
— James A Ph.D⚖🕵⚓️🦍🗡️🇮🇱 (@DoRtChristians) June 22, 2025
Also Democrats: "Can anyone explain why you need one of these ⬇️ to defend yourself?" pic.twitter.com/zBeAGe0yGJ
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memo warning about a “heightened threat environment in the United States.”
A former FBI official told Fox News Digital that the ongoing border crisis under former President Joe Biden has only increased the chances that Iranian terrorists could carry out violent attacks against American citizens. Since the former president failed to take appropriate action on immigration, it is believed that untold numbers of operatives and other bad actors could have made it into the country. Indeed, several reports over the past four years detail how border authorities managed to apprehend illegal immigrants with ties to terrorist groups.
BREAKING: U.S. and allied intelligence sources are now confirming that Iran is actively attempting to send coded go-orders to sleeper cells across the world—including inside the United States. The intent is clear: activate and unleash terror in retaliation for any strike on Iran
— Chuck U. Farley (@ApocalipsFarley) June 18, 2025
A statement provided to Fox News Digital from DHS stated that “The ongoing Israel-Iran conflict brings the possibility of increased therat to the homoeland in the form of possible cyberattacks, acts of violence, and antisemitic hate crimes.”
Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told Fox News Digital that the agency is “at a serious catch-up phase” to assess how many operatives could be lurking in the country. “We don’t know where those thousand Iranians are and who knows how many others got across the border,” he said. “We missed an opportunity when they caught and released those thousand. We missed the opportunity to gather intel by interviewing them and thoroughly vetting them. We just simply let them go, which is gross negligence on the part of the Biden administration."