Latest news with #sleepercells
CNN
8 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
What is the threat of sleeper cells in the US?
What is the threat of sleeper cells in the US? With strikes targeted at US bases in Qatar on Monday, Iran has already begun retaliation against the United States for strikes President Trump authorized over the weekend against Iranian nuclear facilities. CNN's intelligence analyst John Miller explains how sleeper cells within the US could pose an additional threat. 02:16 - Source: CNN World leaders divided after US attack on Iran The UN Security Council was deeply divided during an emergency session called after US military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. 01:27 - Source: CNN Why the Strait of Hormuz is so significant As Iran threatens to disrupt and close the Strait of Hormuz, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh breaks down why this narrow passage is so important. 00:58 - Source: CNN Israel strikes Iran's Evin prison The Israeli military attacked Iran's notorious Evin prison on Monday, according to Israel's defense minister and Iranian state news. Iran's state broadcaster IRIB published video of the entrance to the prison which has been geolocated by CNN. 00:21 - Source: CNN CNN team witnesses Israeli strike on Tehran Israeli airstrikes rocked the north of Tehran on Monday. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen shows the aftermath of the attack. 01:14 - Source: CNN Iranians demonstrate against US strikes US President Donald Trump's decision to launch direct strikes against Iranian nuclear sites has sparked a wave of anger in the country, with people on the streets of Tehran telling CNN they expect their country to strike back. 01:33 - Source: CNN Satellite images show before and after US strikes in Iran Iran's largest nuclear complex was dealt a series of severe blows in US strikes on Sunday, a CNN analysis of satellite imagery found. See the before and after images, provided by Maxar Technologies, showing the damage visible at three of Iran's nuclear facilities. Initial damage assessments to the three sites are ongoing, according to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. 00:54 - Source: CNN 'No one dirtier than Trump': Iranians react to US strikes CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on the streets of Tehran, Iran's capital city, a day after US President Donald Trump confirmed he approved US strikes on Iran. Hear from residents in the city who say the strikes strengthen their support for Iranian leadership. 00:56 - Source: CNN General describes moment US bomb was dropped on Iran Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine detailed the moment US B2 bombers dropped Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on Iran's Fordow nuclear plant followed by Tomahawk missiles striking Isfahan. The strikes were announced Saturday by President Trump. 00:53 - Source: CNN Hegseth says 'American deterrence is back' US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed reporters during a Pentagon briefing Sunday morning following President Trump's weekend announcement of US strikes on Iran. Trump had said the US had struck Iranian nuclear sites including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. 01:17 - Source: CNN Iranian FM spokesperson: Trump administration betrayed diplomacy Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei spoke exclusively to CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Iran after the US attacked three key nuclear facilities in the country. Baghaei said the US' actions were "unprecedentedly dangerous" and a "betrayal of diplomacy." 01:27 - Source: CNN Here's what the US used to attack Iran The US launched a significant military operation targeting Iran's nuclear facilities. CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton breaks down which weapons were deployed, including the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) for the first time in US combat history. 01:38 - Source: CNN Iranian foreign minister responds to US strikes The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has condemned US strikes on the country's nuclear facilities. He said Iran continues to defend itself by all means necessary against US and Israeli military aggression, and that the US holds "full responsibility for the consequences of its actions." 01:12 - Source: CNN CNN on blast site in Tel Aviv: 'A scene of complete devastation' CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv walks through destroyed apartment buildings after the site got hit by Iranian missile strikes in response to the US' attack. 01:21 - Source: CNN Hear from Americans still trying to leave Israel Commercial airlines have, for days now, halted all flights in and out of Israel due to the ongoing conflict with Iran. CNN spoke to multiple Americans in central Israel who are still struggling to leave the country. 01:05 - Source: CNN Mahmoud Khalil met with cheers at airport in New Jersey A crowd erupted into cheers for Mahmoud Khalil, his wife and child as they arrived at Newark Airport on Saturday following Khalil's released on bail from a Louisiana ICE detention center, more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University's campus. CNN's Gloria Pazmino was at the airport for his arrival, which included the presence of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 00:40 - Source: CNN Eight die in hot air balloon accident in Brazil A video posted to social media showed a hot air balloon catching fire in the sky before plummeting to the ground in Brazil. Eight of the 21 people on board died in the incident, according to the local governor. 00:23 - Source: CNN Why Fareed Zakaria thinks Trump has 'FOMO' foreign policy CNN's Fareed Zakaria analyzes what may be motivating President Trump's foreign policy: a fear of missing out. 00:44 - Source: CNN Anderson Cooper reports from a bomb shelter in Israel CNN's Anderson Cooper reports from a bomb shelter in the basement of a hotel in Tel Aviv as Iran fires another round of missiles at Israel. 01:13 - Source: CNN Aftermath of Iranian strike on Haifa CNN's Nic Robertson shows the aftermath of an Iranian strike on Haifa, Israel, less than an hour after it made impact. The strike wounded at least 17 people according to Israeli national emergency service MDA. 00:48 - Source: CNN Iran's foreign minister responds to Trump's call for negotiations After President Trump opened a two-week negotiating window before he decides whether to strike Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the country is not seeking negotiations with the United States. 00:16 - Source: CNN Iranian missile strikes major Israeli medical center CNN's International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson, reports from Beer Sheva, Israel, where a hospital was struck during an Iranian attack. Iran said it was targeting an Israeli intelligence and command center 'near a hospital.' There have been no reported deaths from the strike. 01:04 - Source: CNN Israel's defense minister: Khamenei cannot 'continue to exist' Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cannot be allowed to 'continue to exist,' after an Israeli hospital was struck by an Iranian missile on Thursday. 00:13 - Source: CNN CNN correspondent reports on the ground in Tehran Air defense systems had been activated over Tehran overnight, according to a Telegram post from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports on the scene. 01:41 - Source: CNN CNN on the ground in Tehran CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Iran's capital city of Tehran and is the first western journalist to enter the country since its conflict with Israel started. Hear his first impressions and what he's witnessed as he journeyed across Iran. 01:28 - Source: CNN Trump says decision on Iran will come down to the last second CNN's Kaitlan Collins asks President Trump if he has made a final decision on whether to intervene in the Israel-Iran conflict. 01:12 - Source: CNN This is how the US could get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports on how the US could get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran while the countries continue trading strikes for a sixth day, with civilians in flashpoint areas facing waves of attacks. 02:14 - Source: CNN Trump open to assisting Israel in conflict with Iran CNN's Kaitlan Collins gives the latest reporting on the White House debating whether to intervene in the Israel-Iran conflict. 00:58 - Source: CNN Woman gives birth to triplets in underground Israeli hospital A woman gave birth to triplets Monday in Israel's Rambam hospital, one of several in the country that have moved some operations underground as Iranian strikes hit the city of Haifa this week, according to Reuters. 00:44 - Source: CNN What Iranian residents are texting to CNN as strikes hit As Israeli strikes zeroed in on Iran's capital city of Tehran, CNN's Clarissa Ward reports from Tel Aviv some of the messages she's received from residents in Iran offering a glimpse into the daily anxieties of living in a country faced with an ever-escalating conflict in the sky. 01:33 - Source: CNN Trump disputes intel chief Tulsi Gabbard on Iran President Donald Trump disputed his own director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, on how developed Iran's nuclear capabilities are and said Iran was on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapon when Israel struck in recent days. 00:26 - Source: CNN Trump tells CNN reporter why he left G7 As President Donald Trump returns to the United States after leaving the G7 summit early, he took questions from journalists aboard Air Force One. Watch his answer to CNN's Chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins' question on why he left early. 00:44 - Source: CNN Trump slams Macron's comment on why he had to leave G7 summit early US President Donald Trump called out French President Emmanuel Macron over his counterpart's suggestion that he left the G7 summit to work on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. "He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire," Trump wrote on Truth Social. 00:35 - Source: CNN Kaitlan Collins explains why Trump left G7 summit early President Donald Trump is heading back early to Washington from the G7 summit in Canada, as the conflict between Israel and Iran enters its fifth day. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports on the escalating attacks between the two sides and Trump's warning to civilians in Tehran. 00:55 - Source: CNN Ex-Israeli Defense Minister's message to Trump Benny Gantz, Chairman of Israel's National Unity Party, and the former Minister of Defense speaks to CNN's Anderson Cooper following Israel's attack on Iran. 01:08 - Source: CNN Video shows Pakistani students returning home from Tehran Hundreds of Pakistani students who left their studies in Tehran amid daily strikes on the city by Israel, have crossed back into Pakistan, a local official told CNN. 00:28 - Source: CNN CNN team sees strike damage in Tel Aviv Residents in Tel Aviv, Israel, are reeling after another round of Iranian strikes on the city overnight. CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson visits a street in the center of the city where buildings were severely damaged and windows blown out by Iranian missiles. 01:28 - Source: CNN What we know about Iran's key nuclear site It's key to Iran's nuclear program: the Fordow plant - in a mountain lair where hundreds of centrifuges, hidden possibly 90 meters underground, enrich uranium to 60%. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh explains what we know about the key site in Israel's crosshairs. 01:00 - Source: CNN
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
What are sleeper cells and why are the FBI on alert for them after Trump's strikes on Iran?
The United States has ramped up its monitoring of Iranian sleeper cells as President Donald Trump's strikes on three major Iranian nuclear sites decisively propelled the U.S. into Israel's war. Following Saturday's strikes, which Trump claimed 'totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, both White House and FBI officials have been on high alert for Iranian sleeper cells. Sleeper cells comprised of spies or terrorists hiding out in the U.S. or Western countries, remain inactive, often living quiet and unassuming lives working regular jobs until they are ordered to act on a mission. (Think Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, the fictional Cold War-era KGB spies who pose as the typical American couple with kids in suburban DC in FX's series The Americans.) According to reports, Iran may now try to activate these covert spies after the U.S. joined Israel's strikes against Iran. Even before Trump ordered U.S. involvement in the strikes, FBI Director Kash Patel increased efforts to surveil potential sleeper agents linked to Hezbollah – a U.S.-designated terror organization backed by Iran, sources told CBS News. The increased surveillance started earlier this month, after Israel's Operation Rising Lion offensive began, according to the report. Both current and former administrations have worried about the threat of Iranian operatives, especially after Trump ordered Iranian General Qasem Soleimani to be assassinated in January 2020. In the wake of his killing, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies ramped up their resources to counter potential threats. Since then, prosecutors have also charged several U.S.-based individuals with plotting to kill both Trump and his national security adviser John Bolton. A recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security threat assessment found that the intelligence community expects Iran to remain the primary source of terrorism and continue to advance plots against the U.S., according to NewsNation. 'As the conflict in the Middle East escalates and Iran is being targeted, the regime thinks to itself, 'OK, we are on our last throes, and therefore we will go out with a bang, quite literally,'' Barak Seener, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told NewsNation before the U.S. joined the strikes. 'Its calculus will be very different if its survivability is threatened. Intelligence Services in the U.S. are working overtime to contend and mitigate risks and threats that can emerge on its domestic soil. The more protracted this conflict goes on, the heightened risk for both U.S. forces and assets in the Middle East, but also to U.S. security domestically,' Seener added. United States Central Command officials have also said it is likely that the FBI is currently monitoring potential threats. While the true extent of the damage from Saturday's strikes remains unclear, Iran has described the act as 'unforgivable' and vowed retaliation. In wake of the attacks, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused Washington of having 'betrayed' negotiations over a nuclear deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, cautioned Iran against any retaliation, echoing Trump's comments the night of the strikes, when the president posted: "There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days." Rubio said of Iran on Fox Business' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" that any such action against the U.S. or its interests would be "the worst mistake they've ever made."
