Is it safe to travel to America right now? How safe is it to visit New York - as Iran threatens to ‘activate terror sleeper cells inside US’
Questions are surfacing over the safety of travelling to America right now amid the war between Israel and Iran.
Iran threatened to activate terror sleeper cells inside the United States if the country attacked, reports suggest. Sources told NBC News that Iran sent a communiqué to Donald Trump in the days before the US’s strikes, threatening to green-light the terror sleeper cells.
Mr Trump received the message via an intermediary at the G7 summit in Canada last week. Sleeper cells are essentially spies or terrorists who operate in the US and remain inactive until they are ordered to act.
It comes as Mr Trump authorised strikes on Iran’s three nuclear bases, Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, on Saturday night in a stealth mission he hailed “a spectacular military success”. The US president had previously vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to American officials.
A bulletin from the National Terrorism Advisory System now warns of a "heightened threat environment in the United States" following the U.S. military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. The bulletin, first obtained by CBS News on Sunday morning, June 22, does not note any current specific threats, but warns that "low-level cyber attacks against US networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists are likely, and cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against US networks."
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said, "It is our duty to keep the nation safe and informed, especially during times of conflict. The ongoing Israel-Iran conflict brings the possibility of increased threat to the homeland in the form of possible cyberattacks, acts of violence, and antisemitic hate crimes”.
The bulletin notes that U.S. law enforcement "has disrupted multiple potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots in the United States since 2020," and warns "the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could also motivate violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators seeking to attack targets." The bulletin also warns: "The likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against the United States."
Law enforcement officials in New York City said on Saturday night that they were "deploying additional resources" to certain sites as a precaution. The NYPD tweeted: "We're tracking the situation unfolding in Iran.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we're deploying additional resources to religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across NYC and coordinating with our federal partners. We'll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC."
In addition to the domestic security bulletin, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide alert for all Americans traveling or planning to travel outside the country on Monday, noting that in light of the strikes on Iran, "there is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad. The Department of State advises U.S. citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution."
The Foreign Office has not issued a travel warning advising Brits not to travel to America. So, it is still safe to visit. However, Brits should keep up to date with Foreign Office announcements.