The US State Department issued a 'worldwide caution' to Americans traveling abroad amid rising fears of an Iranian attack. 'The conflict between Israel and Iran has resulted in disruptions to travel and periodic closure of airspace across the Middle East,' the State Department said on Sunday. 'There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad. The Department of State advises U.S. citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution.'
President Trump stunned the world by bombing Iran's three nuclear weapons factories on Saturday night in an act that has seen the US officially join Israel's offensive on the hardline Islamic nation. The warning came hours before the US Embassy in Qatar issued a 'shelter in place' order to Americans in the Middle East nation.
The embassy warned the 15,000 American residents in Qatar, which also hosts 19 US military facilities, to shelter 'out of an abundance of caution', amid fears of an imminent retaliation from Iran. The national terror threat alert system was also ominously raised in response to strikes President Trump ordered on three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday night. Days before the strikes, Trump was reportedly threatened by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that he would unleash sleeper cell terrorists on US soil if the president green-lit the attacks.
Trump received a communiqué from the regime just days before he ordered US military strikes on its nuclear facilities, sources told NBC News, which was delivered through an intermediary at the G7 summit in Canada last week. In its warning, the State Department said that although there are 'no specific credible threats,' low-level cyber attacks against US networks are likely.
'Iran also has a long-standing commitment to target US Government officials it views as responsible for the death of an Iranian military commander killed in January 2020,' DHS said. '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.'
Following the State Department's caution to Americans around the world, the head of the department, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said Iran would face Trump's wrath if they activate sleeper cells or proxy militias on US targets or interests. 'We'll impose costs on Iran if they attack American personnel, whether they do it directly, or whether they do it through some of these proxies that they try to hide behind,' Rubio said. Trump departed the G7 meeting early after receiving the sleeper cell threat, and he told reporters on Air Force One he planned to hold 'early' meetings with his security team in the White House Situation Room.
The president called for people to 'evacuate' Tehran, before he ultimately struck three nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. After the US deployed B-2 bombers to drop more than a dozen 'bunker busters,' Iran's foreign minister called the strikes 'outrageous' and said that Tehran 'reserves all options' to retaliate. On Monday, it emerged that Iranian officials are said to be considering removing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from power after Trump waded into the conflict.
Two sources involved in talks told The Atlantic that officials are now contemplating deposing the Ayatollah, but said it's just 'one idea' among many 'plots'. 'Everybody knows Khamenei's days are numbered,' one official told the American outlet. 'Even if he stays in office, he won't have actual power.' Iranian officials had sought to displace the 86-year-old supreme leader even before the U.S. intervention due to his age and longstanding health concerns, the sources said.
Vice President JD Vance said that he blames former President Joe Biden's weak border policies for exacerbating the sleeper cell threat, as large numbers of undocumented people were allowed into the US illegally, 'some of whom we know are on terrorist watchlists.' He said 1,504 Iranian nationals were encountered at the southern border during the Biden administration, and 729 were released. On Monday, Republican Tom Cotton, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News that Americans 'have a right to be concerned' about the threat of terrorist sleeper cells.
'Joe Biden had a wide-open border policy for four years, we know that terrorists tried to enter our country,' Cotton said. 'Iran has a long history of terrorizing America.'
The Arkansas senator pointed to intelligence that said Iran was behind attempts on President Trump's life last year, as well as the fatwa Iran put on journalist Salman Rushdie that also resulted in an assassination attempt on him in 2022. 'It is important that we remember, Iran did not become a terrorist state because Donald Trump bombed their nuclear bunkers, he bombed their nuclear bunkers because they're a terrorist state,' he continued. 'And we cannot allow a terrorist state to have nuclear weapons.'