U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained 11 Iranian nationals, one of whom was a sharpshooter in his country’s elite army unit.
The arrest of Ribvar Karimi, who served four years in the Iranian Army before obtaining a visa to enter the United States, comes after Iran threatened “retaliation” for bombs fired by Israel and the United States on three of its nuclear enrichment sites.
Although President Donald Trump has declared a cease-fire between the two nations, US antiterrorism officials are on “high alert” for the prospect that an Iranian sleeper cell actor may perpetrate a domestic act of terrorism.
According to ICE agents, Karimi was apprehended while holding a card identifying him as a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.
“Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
According to the US Department of Homeland Security, Karimi was detained in Locust, Alabama, while on a K-1 visa, which is issued to foreigners who want to marry a US citizen. It is unclear who applied to be Karimi’s future husband.
He came during the Biden administration and failed to alter his status, which was a legal requirement, breaking the conditions of his visa and making him eligible for deportation, according to DHS.
ICE conducted a bigger operation that included the arrest of another person on a federal watchlist while targeting eight states and nine sanctuary communities. Mehran Makari Sahel, from St. Paul, Minnesota, was detained on June 22. He is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who has acknowledged having links with Hezbollah.
Police have not tied any of the Iranians to ongoing terrorism plans, but DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has encouraged state and local police to stay vigilant as the Trump administration works to detain suspicious individuals, particularly those with links to Iran.
Just one day before the 11 arrests, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) reported that Florida officials apprehended a “boatload” of Iranian nationals attempting to dock on her state’s beach.
The revelation comes after Iran threatened vengeance in reaction to the U.S. assaults on Sunday, which destroyed three nuclear enrichment sites. In a statement, the Florida Republican stated that the possibility of “sleeper cell” strikes by Iranian operatives is genuine.
“Am I concerned about sleeper cells? Absolutely. This is NOT a conspiracy theory; it’s a serious national security threat,” she told Florida’s Voice News.
The number of individuals on the boat remains unknown, and it’s unclear if their dispatch coincided with the assaults.
However, opponents of former President Joe Biden have previously pointed to the previous administration’s lax border security and asylum policy, which allowed more than 1,200 Iranian nationals to enter the United States over four years.
“The likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if the Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland,” states a bulletin released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday.
“It is our duty to keep the nation safe and informed, especially during times of conflict,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “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.”
