US on alert for Iranian terror attack
America is on alert for an attack on home soil by Iranian-backed terrorists, JD Vance, the US vice-president, has said.
Authorities are preparing for a possible attack after Donald Trump bombed Iran's nuclear facilities on Sunday morning local time, with security at places of worship in major cities being increased.
Speaking to NBC's Meet the Press, Mr Vance, claimed individuals 'on the terrorism watch list' had been allowed to enter the country during Joe Biden's administration.
'We feel very confident in our FBI and law enforcement that we're on top of the situation, but yeah, we're looking at this very closely,' he said. 'We're doing everything that we can to keep our people safe.'
Police in Washington DC, New York and other major American cities said they had increased their presence outside places of worship on Sunday following the US air strikes on Iran.
New York is on 'high alert' after the US struck three nuclear sites, according to Kathy Hochul, the state's governor.
'We are not aware of any specific or credible threat to New Yorkers,' Ms Hochul said in a statement. 'However, given New York's distinctive global profile, we are taking this situation extraordinarily seriously.'
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned on Sunday that the US was facing a 'heightened threat' as a result of the conflict in Iran.
'The likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilising to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence,' it said in a bulletin.
It added that hackers affiliated with the Iranian government 'may conduct attacks against US networks'.
The White House has reportedly been monitoring possible Iranian sleeper cells in the US, which could be ordered by Tehran to launch an attack in retaliation for the damage inflicted on its nuclear programme.
The next 48 hours are considered the most dangerous period for an Iranian attack, either on American civilians or military in the Middle East or on home soil, US officials told NBC News.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, has said the US 'must receive response to their aggression', but did not specify what action he intended to take.
Senior figures in the Trump administration warned Iran on Sunday that retaliating against the US would provoke an aggressive military response.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, told Fox News: 'We're not looking for war in Iran, but if they attack us then I think we have capabilities they haven't even seen yet… we can fly in and out of Iran at will.'
Closing off the Strait of Hormuz to put choke off global oil supplies would be 'economic suicide' and mark a 'massive escalation' in the conflict, he continued.
John Bolton, Mr Trump's former national security adviser, said Iran was 'on the verge' of regime change and warned that the US president would be forced to respond to any escalation with 'brutal force'.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it is not seeking to topple Iran's government, and has urged Tehran to return to the negotiating table immediately.
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