U.S. officials are warning of a rising sleeper threat tied to antisemitic university protests as Iran’s retaliation campaign against America shifts into unconventional tactics. With the Islamic Republic’s terrorist proxies degraded, national security experts believe Tehran may now turn to sleeper cells and campus unrest to destabilize the U.S. from within.
Barak Seener, senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, warned, “Iran will be seeking to flex by activating sleeper cells in the U.S., Britain, Europe or even Asia… targeting either community centers or policy officials.” Seener pointed to antisemitic campus demonstrations as fertile ground for Tehran to exploit. “Much of the opposition to U.S. foreign policy toward Israel and Gaza has been people… on student visas. They’re not U.S. nationals… yet they’re able to create a disturbance.”
The Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Saturday following U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, highlighting the elevated risk of violence by Iran-backed extremists inside the homeland. Retired NYPD Intelligence Bureau officer Paul Mauro noted that campus protests could offer the perfect cover for operatives. “Insert foreign agents here and embed them in these campus protests,” he said. “It just saps our blood and treasure here on the home front and creates chaos.”
Mauro also warned of online radicalization efforts targeting disaffected youth. “It’s subtle, and it’s a seduction process,” he said. “You get somebody who… doesn’t have much of an identity, and you give them one.”
US President Donald Trump’s administration has moved swiftly to revoke student visas of known agitators tied to anti-Israel protests. The threat remains real: “There are no rules of engagement to a rogue regime like Iran,” Seener stated. “Everything is fair game.”
