(The Lion) — Experts are warning of the possibility Iran could activate U.S.-based sleeper cells to retaliate against any American military strikes against the Persian Islamist regime.

Multiple sources told CBS News law enforcement is stepping up surveillance of potential foreign agents with ties to Iran as President Donald Trump considers direct military involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president will decide within two weeks whether to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, even suggesting Iran has all the materials to create a nuclear weapon within weeks.

Iran has vowed to retaliate against the U.S. if Trump decides to attack Iran directly.

One expert told reporters this week that because the Iranian regime is backed into a corner, it may act more “volatile” as it runs out of traditional resources, reported the New York Post.

“The very fact now that the Iranian regime is volatile, it’s targeted, and it’s highly vulnerable – that’s what actually makes it increasingly dangerous to the West,” Henry Jackson Society research fellow Barak Seener told reporters on a conference call.

Seener said there’s a sense of “nihilism” right now about the Iranian regime.

Iran has witnessed the degradation of its air defense network and is rapidly running out of long-range missiles to fire at Israel, as the Jewish state also seeks to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s willingness to use terror groups and proxies to attack its enemies makes the sleeper cell scenario more likely, according to Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.

Plitsas referenced alleged Iranian plots to conduct assassinations on U.S. soil last fall.

In November 2024, three men were charged in federal court over their alleged involvement in an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump and other U.S. citizens, The Lion reported previously.

“The United States and its regional allies face a pressing need to counter these threats proactively, given Iran’s demonstrated capacity for transnational attacks and its network of sleeper cells,” wrote Plitsas. “Enhanced counterintelligence efforts are critical to identify and neutralize plots before they materialize.”

Evidence shows that such “sleeper” networks are probably more common than the public understands.

The 2019 conviction of Ali Kourani, a Hezbollah operative funded by Iran who lived in New York, shows the ayatollahs are capable of maintaining a highly compartmentalized, secretive organization “responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities” in the U.S., said the U.S. Department of Justice.

One tactic used in the past by Iranian sleeper agents or proxies is hostage-taking.

Beyond the original hostage crisis which saw Iran take 60 captives from the Embassy in Tehran in 1979, the period between 1980 and 1992 saw the widespread adoption of kidnapping of U.S. targets by Iranian agents and proxies.

“Beginning in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, this gang was bent on cracking down on domestic opposition,” said the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exile group devoted to overthrowing the Islamic regime in Tehran. “Meanwhile, the new regime gradually learned to develop a strategy of hostage-taking and terrorism to achieve one goal: spreading warfare abroad to preserve an illegitimate rule at home.”

This time around, however, Iran will not have Hamas and Hezbollah as reliable proxies in their protected territories of Syria and Lebanon, where they previously stashed their victims, noted Seener.

“The only place where it can really flex now is the international community – to potentially activate sleeper cells and to conduct malign activities at an even greater capacity than it had beforehand,” he said.

Potential scenarios could include attempts to assassinate or kidnap high-level individuals in the U.S. or conduct soft target attacks, such as those on malls or parades.

Beyond the reported plot to kill Trump, evidence also suggests that Iran has targeted former Ambassador John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad, reported CBS.

The Lion sought comments from former Ambassador John Bolton and the White House for this story but did not receive a response before publication.

Featured image: @POTUS (X)