Donald Trump (AP file photo)
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was aware of Iran’s presence at home as U.S. and Israeli forces continued military operations against Iran. The operation, now in its second week, killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has since led to retaliatory actions against U.S. assets and allies.When a Fox News reporter asked him if he had been informed of how many Iranian sleeper cells there might be in the United States, Trump responded: “I’ve heard, a lot of them are coming in through Biden’s stupid open borders, but we know where most of them are. I think we’ve looked at all of them.”
Trump further accused former President Joe Biden of allowing potential threats to come in with his so-called open border policies, saying, “A lot of people are coming in through Biden’s stupid open borders, but we know where most of them are. We’ve got our eye on them all,” calling Biden “one of the worst presidents in the history of our country.”Trump added that military action against Iran was being carried out “at an unprecedented level” and called it “amazing.”Earlier, ABC News reported that U.S. authorities had intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated from Iran and were intended for secret recipients. The federal alert said its contents could not yet be determined but asked law enforcement to increase surveillance for suspicious radio frequency activity.“While the exact content of these transmissions cannot be determined at this time, the sudden emergence of new stations with international broadcast characteristics requires increased situational awareness,” the alert said.The warnings follow events in the United States following Khamenei’s death. A Senegalese man opened fire at a bar in Austin, Texas, killing three people, and two men have been accused of trying to support the Islamic State during a protest outside New York City’s Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani.Customs and Border Protection has previously warned of the risks of sleeper cells despite more than 700 Iranian citizens remaining in the United States despite crossing illegally over the past four years.FBI Director Kash Patel also said that counterterrorism teams are on high alert and working 24/7 to prevent threats on U.S. soil.“Last night, I directed our counterterrorism and intelligence teams to remain on high alert and mobilize all necessary ancillary security assets,” Patel wrote on the X shortly after the U.S. operation began.
