Trump administration boosts monitoring of possible Iran-backed cells in U.S. — as Trump weighs strikes, sources say
Leavitt says Trump will make decision on Iran within next two weeks
As President Trump is contemplating potential U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, law enforcement officials have stepped up surveillance of Iran-backed operatives in the United States, multiple sources told CBS News.
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 surveill 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.
Mr. Trump is considering whether to strike Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, joining Israel's weeklong campaign against Iranian nuclear and military targets, CBS News has previously reported. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday the president will make a decision within the next two weeks, citing "a substantial chance of negotiation that may or may not take place" with Iran.
Iran has threatened to retaliate if the U.S. decides to strike.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Soccer Star Dishes On 'Weird' Oval Office Moment With Donald Trump
U.S. Men's National Soccer Team star Timothy Weah has opened up about what he described as the 'weird' experience of standing behind Donald Trump in the Oval Office while the president fielded questions on the Iran-Israel war and attacked the idea of transgender women competing in women's sports. Weah was at the White House with his Juventus teammates on Wednesday as part of a promotional event for the FIFA Club World Cup, ahead of the Italian side's 5-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates' Al-Ain FC. Advertisement Trump invited questions from reporters about the game and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which the U.S. will host alongside Mexico and Canada. But the Juventus players stood uncomfortably behind POTUS as he instead answered queries about the more pressing political questions of the day. Weah, the son of former Liberian soccer star-turned-former president George Weah, later told reporters that the players had been made to attend the event. 'They told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,' he explained, reported The Athletic. 'I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird,' he added. 'When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it's kind of like, I just want to play football, man.' Related...
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iran-Israel war: latest developments
Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on Friday, a week into the war between the longtime enemies. Here are the latest developments: - Iran meetings - European top diplomats are meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss Iran's nuclear programme. "I've received several phone calls reassuring me that the Zionist regime would not target" Araghchi en route to Geneva, his adviser Mohammad Reza Ranjbaran said on X. Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain and the EU are urging de-escalation, with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy saying the next two weeks are "a window... to achieve a diplomatic solution". Separately, the UN Security Council is also due to convene on Friday for a second session on the conflict, at Iran's request with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday. - Overnight strikes - Israel's military said Friday it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the "research and development of Iran's nuclear weapons project." In an upscale neighbourhood of Tehran, some residents were looking out at the night sky from their rooftops, with red blasts lighting up the darkness, AFP journalists saw. In another area, an Iranian cried out through a loudspeaker, with music blasting in the background: "Death to Israel, death to America!" Iran's Revolutionary Guards said more than 100 "combat and suicide" drones were launched at Israel on Thursday. - Trump waiting to decide - US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a "substantial" chance of negotiations to end the conflict. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump told aides he approved attack plans but is holding off to see if Iran will give up its nuclear programme. Tehran ally Moscow said any US military action "would be an extremely dangerous step", while pro-Iran groups in Iraq threatened retaliatory attacks. Dozens of US military aircraft were no longer visible at a US base in Qatar on Thursday, satellite images showed -- a possible move to shield them from potential Iranian strikes. - Iran's new intelligence chief - Iran appointed a new chief of intelligence at its Revolutionary Guards on Thursday, the official IRNA news agency said, after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike last week. Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, appointed Brigadier General Majid Khadami as the new head of its intelligence division, IRNA said. He replaces Mohammed Kazemi, who was killed on Sunday alongside two other Revolutionary Guards officers -- Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri -- in an Israeli strike. Ali Shamkhani, adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was in stable condition, state TV reported on Friday, after he was seriously injured last week. - Death toll - The body of a woman was recovered on Thursday from a building struck by an Iranian missile four days earlier, taking the overall death toll in Israel to 25 since the war began, according to Israeli authorities. Iran said Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. Authorities have not issued an updated toll since. - Arrests and blackout - Iranian police announced the arrest on Thursday of 24 people accused of spying for Israel. Authorities in both Israel and Iran have announced arrests for espionage and other charges since the war began on Friday. Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said at least 223 people have been arrested nationwide on charges related to collaboration with Israel, cautioning that the actual figure was likely higher. Iran imposed a "nationwide internet shutdown" on Thursday -- the most extensive blackout since widespread anti-government protests in 2019 -- internet watchdog NetBlocks said. The shutdown "impacts the public's ability to stay connected at a time when communications are vital", NetBlocks wrote on X. burs-dhw/ser/dcp
Bloomberg
6 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Iran Races to Get Its Oil Out Into the World
Iran is rapidly exporting oil, a sign of the unusual logistical steps that Tehran is undertaking as the US mulls joining Israel in bombing the Persian Gulf state. Satellite images of the oil storage sites at Kharg Island show that the reservoirs were only partly full on June 11, but were brimming with crude on June 18. Bloomberg's Alaric Nightingale reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
