By Joseph Lord
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning Americans of an enhanced threat environment for cyber attacks or violence within the United States as it monitors for any retaliation for the recent strikes on Iran authorized by President Donald Trump.
“The ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States,” DHS announced in a national terrorism advisory bulletin.
DHS said that “low level cyber attacks” carried out by pro-Iran hackers are “likely.”
The bulletin noted that Iran has a “long-standing commitment” to target individuals it holds responsible for the death of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general assassinated on Trump’s orders in January 2020.
DHS warned that the domestic threat level would increase if Iran issued a religious ruling, known as a fatwa, calling for retaliatory violence against individuals or groups in the United States for the strikes.
While Iranians continue to harbor deep resentment toward the United States over Soleimani’s assassination, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—the supreme civic and religious leader of the Islamist state—did not issue a fatwa in response at the time.
DHS warned that the ongoing conflict “could contribute to U.S.-based individuals plotting additional attacks.”
This enhanced threat environment expires on Sept. 22, indicating that authorities are worried about the possibility of attacks at any time throughout the summer.
Iran has so far been limited in their response to the attacks—even as Trump has taunted Iranians with the threat of “regime change.”
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
He added “MIGA,” likely meaning “Make Iran Great Again.”
Earlier the same day, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that regime change was not the goal of the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“This wasn’t a regime change move. This was designed to degrade and or destroy three nuclear sites related to their nuclear weaponization ambitions, and that was delivered yesterday,” Rubio said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“What happens next will now depend on what Iran chooses to do next. If they choose the path of diplomacy, we’re ready. We can do a deal that’s good for them, the Iranian people, and good for the world.
“If they choose another route, then there’ll be consequences for that.”
IRNA, the state-run news agency, has acknowledged the strikes but Iran has not revealed the extent of the damage.
On June 22, Rafael Grossi, the director general of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, said that it’s currently not possible to assess the damage to Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant, Fordow.
On June 21, Trump announced that Fordow, alongside Iran’s nuclear facilities at Isfahan and Natanz, had been “completely and totally obliterated” by U.S. bomber strikes.
Grossi told the U.N. Security Council, in an emergency meeting called by Iran on Sunday, that while craters are visible at Fordow, the damage to the underground facilities can’t yet be assessed.
“At this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordo,” Grossi said.
Grossi said that at the Isfahan site, “entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit.”
He also confirmed that the fuel enrichment plant at the Natanz site was hit.
The Associated Press and Jacob Burg contributed to this report.
