Trump administration boosts monitoring of possible Iran-backed cells in U.S. — as Trump weighs strikes, sources say

As President Trump is contemplating potential U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, law enforcement officials have stepped up surveillance of Iran-backed operatives in the United States, multiple sources told CBS News. 

FBI Director Kash Patel has increased efforts to monitor possible domestic sleeper cells linked to Hezbollah — a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization backed by Iran — since Israel’s Operation Rising Lion offensive began earlier this month, U.S. officials said.

Both the White House and FBI declined to comment. 

The threat from Iranian operatives has worried current and former administration officials since Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated on Mr. Trump’s orders in January 2020. 

Late last year, federal prosecutors charged an operative of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and two U.S.-based people with plotting to surveil and assassinate critics of the Iranian regime. The IRGC operative allegedly told investigators he was pushed by unnamed IRGC officials to plan an attack against Mr. Trump.

For years, U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials have been concerned about Iran’s ability to direct or inspire attacks within the United States — a concern that has ramped up since Soleimani’s killing. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and others have devoted significant resources to countering the threat.

There are a range of potential targets. In recent years, prosecutors have charged people with plotting to kill Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton and Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad, both of whom are frequent critics of Iran’s government. Bolton was granted Secret Service protection in 2021, but Mr. Trump revoked his protection this year.

Mr. Trump is considering whether to strike Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, joining Israel’s weeklong campaign against Iranian nuclear and military targets, CBS News has previously reported. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday the president will make a decision within the next two weeks, citing “a substantial chance of negotiation that may or may not take place” with Iran.

Iran has threatened to retaliate if the U.S. decides to strike.