An Investigative Project on Terrorism report on criminal prosecutions of Iranian operatives and those of its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah shows there are countless supporters of Iran and Hezbollah living in the United States.
Most cases involve financial and other forms of material support. But talk of "sleeper cells" has been around for years, and at least one operative told law enforcement that Iran could activate them to carry out attacks in "certain scenarios."
They tried it at least once.
A senior officer from Iran's deadly Quds Force participated in a plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. Meanwhile, senior members of Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) have been prosecuted for scouting potential targets for attack in the United States.
These plots were crafted while arch-terrorist Soleimani led the Quds Force. Soleimani was the mastermind behind Iran's global terror operations that included last month's rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American civilian contractor and injured several US military service members, and the New Year's Eve attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.
"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region," the Department of Defense said after the drone strike. The agency held Soleimani and the Quds Force "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more." READ MORE
