The Department of Homeland Security issued a national terrorism advisory bulletin on Sunday warning that Iran-linked extremists might seek to execute retaliatory attacks on American soil in the wake of the U.S. B-2 bombings of Iranian nuclear sites.
The previous U.S. administration’s failure to secure the southern border, its cover-up of the rise in terrorism-linked migrants, and its release of hundreds of Iranian nationals into the homeland altogether appear to have helped create the environment in which such threats are viable.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, told French President Emmanuel Macron in a call on Sunday, “The U.S. has attacked us; what would you do in such a situation? Naturally, they must receive a response to their aggression.”
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Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
The Iranian regime apparently intends to respond to the American bombings of the nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan in part by closing the Strait of Hormuz, which would disrupt global oil and gas supplies. According to Iranian state media, the Shiite nation’s parliament agreed on Sunday to take this consequential step, but the final decision rests with Iran’s national security council.
The Trump administration indicated that the decision to close down the shipping lane, which roughly 20% of the world’s oil and gas transits, would be a “suicidal move.”
The Iranian regime, designated by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism 40 years ago, might entertain other suicidal forms of retaliation.
The DHS suggested that Iran may rely upon diasporic radicals to follow through on its promised revenge, noting that “low-level cyber attacks” against American networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists and by Tehran-backed actors are likely.
In terms of kinetic attacks, the terrorism advisory noted that “the likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland.”
“The ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States,” added the DHS bulletin. “Iran also has a long-standing commitment to target U.S. government officials it views as responsible for the death of an Iranian military commander killed in January 2020.”
It wouldn’t be the first time in recent years Iran hatched violent plots targeting individuals on American soil.
For example, a Pakistani radical traveled from Iran to the U.S. in 2024 to allegedly avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian terrorist and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who was snuffed out by an American airstrike at Iraq’s Baghdad airport on Jan. 2, 2020. Asif Raza Merchant was arrested on July 12 for allegedly plotting to assassinate Trump and other public officials.
Years earlier, Iranian intelligence officials and assets targeted a New York-based critic of the regime. One of the men involved in the plot was Niloufar Bahadorifar, an American citizen living in California.
‘We have zero information?’
“Since the start of the conflict, we have seen media releases by foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) — including Hamas, Lebanese Hizballah, the Houthis, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, among others — some of which have called for violence against U.S. assets and personnel in the Middle East because of Israel’s attack,” said the DHS bulletin. “The conflict could also motivate violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators seeking to attack targets perceived to be Jewish, pro-Israel, or linked to the U.S. government or military in the homeland.”
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Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images
Retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke told members of the House Homeland Security Committee in September that the Biden-Harris administration concealed from the American public information about illegal aliens with terrorism ties as part of its effort to “quiet the border-wide crisis.”
Heitke delivered the following bombshell:
In San Diego, we had an exponential increase in [Special] Interest Aliens (SIAs). These are aliens with significant ties to terrorism. Prior to this administration, the San Diego sector averaged 10-15 SIAs per year. Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023, and more than that this year. These are only the ones we caught. At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs or mention any of the arrests. The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.
Former Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (N.Y.) asked Heitke what was known about the gotaways who had entered the U.S.
When Heitke responded, “None,” D’Esposito said, “Zero information of millions of people — some of which have been found to be on the terror watch list — we have zero information?”
“Correct,” said Heitke.
Citing data recently provided by a Border Patrol agent, the Center Square reported that over 700 Iranian nationals who illegally stole into the U.S. were ultimately released into the homeland by the Biden administration.
Late last year, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers reportedly apprehended seven Iranian SIAs in Maverick County as well as military-aged men from Afghanistan, Egypt, and Turkey.
“It is our duty to keep the nation safe and informed, especially during times of conflict,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement to Blaze News. “The ongoing Israel-Iran conflict brings the possibility of increased threat to the homeland in the form of possible cyberattacks, acts of violence, and anti-Semitic hate crimes.”
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