The Iranian regime can be waking up sleeper agents within the West to avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an ex-intelligence chief within the Israeli army has warned.
Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser said ‘dormant’ pro-Regime forces could perform terror attacks to destabilise the US and its supporters.
It comes as one among Iran’s most senior grand ayatollahs declared it a non secular obligation for all Muslims to avenge the death of the country’s supreme leader.
Iran’s foreign ministry also vowed that repercussions for Ali Khamenei’s assassination ‘will extend to the world’.
The 86-year-old dictator was found dead within the rubble following an airstrike on his compound on Saturday.
Kuperwasser, a former head of the Research Division on the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps, said the Iranian regime had supporters world wide.
He told Metro: ‘The regime has dormant cells that might try to perform terror attacks.
‘These cells are across the globe for such an eventuality, and so they are probably working to wake them up now.
‘These attacks and other steps can be aimed toward destabilising and charging a price for many who were liable for what happened to Khamenei.’
The previous general, who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said these dormant cells were in place ‘in the USA and elsewhere’ where there are dissident Iranian communities.
Kuperwasser pointed to the violent clashes between protesters and police in Kirachi, Pakistan, as an indication of the Iranian regime’s influence abroad.
A mob of lots of of pro-Iranian demonstrators stormed the US consulate within the Pakistani capital, vandalising the property and setting parts of the constructing on fire.
Not less than nine protestors were reportedly killed and dozens wounded.
The intelligence expert said that intelligence agencies can be focused on identifying these dormant cells within the West and identifying what steps they may plan to take.
He added: ‘They were dormant until now, but any individual goes to wake them up. We’ve to be wary now and careful of their capabilities.’
Kupperwasser stressed that Iran would likely not goal European countries because that they had not been involved within the assassination of Khamenei.
The UK military has been involved in shooting down missiles and drones heading towards Qatar and other allies, defence secretary John Healey said.
He added that 300 British personnel were just a few hundred yards away from a strike at a Bahrain military base and that missiles were also fired within the direction of Cyprus, where 1000’s of troops are stationed.
A whole bunch of expat British-Iranians took to the streets of London last night to have fun the death of Ayotollah Khamenei.
Within the north London suburb of Golders Green, videos showed Israeli and Iranian flags being waved on the celebration because the local Jewish community heralded the news.
How are sleeper cells recruited and what triggers them?
Two members of the Iranian community in London previously told Metro that efforts to rent agents for underground activity are common when expats visits Iran.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity last July, each said these efforts are sometimes refused.
B, 34, said: ‘They interrogate you in semi-friendly conditions.
‘They take you somewhere and potentially hold your passport until you talk with them. Then they ask you to perform some tasks for Iran.’
Sleeper cells snap into motion for quite a lot of reasons that may be ‘virtually not possible to identify’.
‘There’ll be some kind of command,’ Prof Julian Richards, the Director of Centre of Security and Intelligence on the University of Buckingham, told Metro in July, when Israel and the US last struck Iran.
‘Either directly from Iran, but more likely from agents who’re temporarily or permanently within the country, who know when and activate a selected sleeper cell.
‘It may be a message on the web, or a coded message on a chat room or some kind of pre-arranged channel.’
What’s going to occur next within the Middle East?
Speaking concerning the US and Israeli military operation in Iran, Kupperwasser said the IDF was prepared for the campaign to ‘take an extended time’.
He said: ‘Iran have so many missiles and missile launchers. I don’t think we will end their capabilities anytime soon.
‘It would take some time until they will not hit Israel and other neighbouring countries.
‘By doing that, and attacking the leadership and the safety forces, will make the people of Iran courageous enough to go onto the streets and take back the country from the hands of the Islamic radicals.’
He said that Israel needed to be prepared for strikes to take ‘every week or two’ to attain their military goals.
In addition to possibly calling into motion sleeper agents within the West, the Iranians may even be hoping their proxy forces within the Middle East will join their cause, Kupperwasser added.
He said: ‘They’re hoping that Hezbollah and the Houthis will take part.
‘But each one among them can have their very own considerations.’
The ex-general explained that Hezbollah, which is predicated in Lebanon, will fear brutal Israeli retaliation, which could undermine their very own powerbase within the region.
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