Iran threatened to 'trigger sleeper terror cells inside US' if attacked days before Trump airstrike
23 June 2025, 10:36 | Updated: 23 June 2025, 10:37
Iran warned the US it would activate terror sleeper cells inside the country in the event of an attack days before Donald Trump launched strikes on three nuclear sites.
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Trump received a communiqué from Iran vowing retaliation from sleeper cells in the US - dormant spies who lead regular lives until they are called into action - last week, sources told NBC News.
However, the threat did not deter the US president from joining the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel over the weekend.
In response, senior Iranian military leaders have suggested they will retaliate after Trump's authorised the bombings of three nuclear sites.
Iran's commander in chief, Amir Hatami, said in a video published by Iranian media that every time the US has committed "crimes" against Iran in the past, they "received a decisive response, and this time it will be the same".
Read more: UK 'would be complicit' in civilian deaths as allies of US, Iranian UN representative warns
Abdolrahim Mousavi, the Iranian army's chief of staff, put out a further statement saying the US has opened up the possibility of his forces taking "any action" against US troops.
Tehran has also reportedly begun preparations to close the Strait of Hormuz, a move which would send the global oil and gas markets into turmoil.
On Sunday evening, Trump had a call with Sir Keir Starmer to discuss the situation in the Middle East and reiterated the "grave risk posed by Iran's nuclear programme to international security".
The Prime Minister also held an emergency COBRA meeting on Sunday and stressed that Britain was doing "everything we can to stabilise the situation".
On LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Luke Pollard, Armed Forces Minister, and Labour and Co-op MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, was unable to give a definitive answer on whether he opposes the action on Iran after being questioned six times.
He said: "Iran must not have a nuclear weapon."
"Our focus as a country is on a diplomatic solution now to bring Iran to the table to get them to negotiate a diplomatic off-ramp," Mr Pollard told Nick.
![Sir Keir Starmer has called on Vladimir Putin to "stop dragging his heels and get to the [negotiating] table", as Trump calls the Russian president "misguided."](https://images.lbc.co.uk/images/734580?width=320&crop=16_9&format=webp&signature=hCtUT-QBb1QuxMxVTF6Ch2nl6Ow=)
