Washington
CNN
—
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies are reexamining known or suspected Hezbollah associates in the US, looking for possible threats that could arise as tensions with Iran increase, though there’s no indication of credible threats at this time, law enforcement officials told CNN.
The moves come amid warnings from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of possible repercussions against the US as President Donald Trump weighs military action against Iran and as the president has mentioned the possibility of the Israeli government attempting to kill the Iranian leader. While US intelligence officials view the greatest danger to be against US military bases and US interests in the region, they are also acting out of an abundance of caution to try and prevent any domestic threats, the sources said.
The prospect of Iranian threats inside the US has long been a concern to law enforcement officials, particularly after the US killed Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general, during the first Trump administration and the Iranians vowed reprisals against former US government officials.
Last year, the Justice Department announced arrests in an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting Trump and others. The US also accused Iranian-affiliated hackers with breaching the Trump campaign, raising the prospect that Iran could use cyber attacks to retaliate against the United States.
The FBI is monitoring potential threats and keeping close watch on groups with suspected ties to Iran, a law enforcement official said. The biggest concern, however, remains lone wolf attacks and the continued hit list of current and former US officials from Iran – including against Trump himself.
In recent years, however, Iran-related threats have emerged from criminal groups that could be hired to carry out attacks, and not from domestic groups associated with fundraising for Iranian-affiliates such as Hezbollah and Hamas, US officials noted.
Late last year, the Justice Department charged two US citizens for allegedly helping Iranian officials surveil an anti-regime advocate in New York. The department also brought charges in a case involving an Afghanistan national allegedly tasked by the IRGC to carrying out assassinations against US and Israeli citizens inside the US, including Trump.
“There’s always a threat,” one federal law enforcement official told CNN of Iran. “The difference is when it’s specific and credible.”
Security postures around several key areas in the US Capital, including the White House, Pentagon and Israeli embassy, have increased since the current conflict between Israel and Iran began earlier this month. But officials told CNN those increases are part of a normal security protocol activated when any conflict of this size begins around the globe.
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One Secret Service official told CNN the agency was under a high level of vigilance but was not currently monitoring a new increase in credible and actionable threats from the country.
When it comes to Iran, one of the FBI’s primary points of focus inside the US is money. The agency continues to investigate how terrorist organizations, sometimes connected to Iran, retrieve funding from groups inside the US – which became a significant issue in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas in 2023.
Sources stressed that while there was no current uptick in the already heightened threat posed against the US by Iran, that story could quickly change.
“It just depends,” one source said of whether Trump decides to engage the US military against Iran, adding that assessments are being run on a continued basis.
One issue that has been increasingly difficult for the FBI and other law enforcement groups to thwart is the threat of a lone wolf attack.
Over the past several months, the US has seen multiple attacks by singular individuals who never communicated their intentions with others or online – a threat that quickly becomes nearly impossible to stop or fully prepare for.
