Encrypted message detected by U.S. triggers warning about Iranian sleeper cells

An encrypted broadcast tied to Iran’s regime could be an activation call for “sleeper assets” to launch attacks, federal officials are warning law enforcement agencies this week.

U.S. authorities issued the alert after intercepting the encrypted message, which was delivered to “clandestine recipients,” according to the internal bulletin first reviewed by ABC News.

The coded message could be marching orders for the regime’s “covert operatives or sleeper assets,” the alert said. It also said that there is “no operational threat tied to a specific location.”

The stealthy broadcast, which was transmitted outside of internet and cellular networks and needed an encryption key to be accessed, was sent to several countries after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28.

“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness,” the alert said.

The federal communication urged police agencies to keep tabs on suspicious radio activity going forward.

The Iranian regime is known to have sleeper cells scattered across the globe that can be called to carry out “lone wolf” terror attacks when the Islamic republic is threatened.

The possibility of such attacks has put political leaders on guard.

“The risk of terrorism right now is quite high,” Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “We tragically saw in Austin, Texas, just last weekend, we saw a terrorist attack. We also saw another terrorist attack in New York City.”

Mr. Cruz referred to a mass shooting in Austin and the attempted bombing in Manhattan, both of which are being investigated with links to the Islamic State.

Two Pennsylvania men claimed their allegiance to ISIS after being charged with tossing homemade bombs at a rally opposing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim.

Court documents said one of the suspects, 18-year-old Emir Balat, used Islamic State slogans during his police interrogation. He allegedly said he wanted his improvised explosive devices, which were made with a chemical compound used in terrorist bombings around the world, to kill more people than the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

The mass shooting in Austin saw three people killed and 19 wounded when a gunman wearing a “Property of Allah” sweatshirt opened fire on a nightlife crowd.

The assailant, Ndiaga Diagne, was shot and killed by police. The FBI said it is investigating his ties to terror groups.

Diagne was a naturalized U.S. citizen, and the two suspects in the New York attack were native-born Americans. But Mr. Cruz stressed that former President Joseph R. Biden’s lax border policies means sleeper cells likely infiltrated the country.

“The danger has never been higher than right now, particularly after four years of open borders under Joe Biden,” the Texas senator said. “We know that radical Islamic terrorists entered this country, and there’s a vulnerability all across this country.”

Outside of the U.S., American diplomatic properties have been targeted in shootings and bombings that foreign authorities are reviewing for ties to Iran.

Canadian police on Tuesday said two gunmen fired several bullets at the U.S. consulate in Toronto before driving away. No one was injured, and officials have not offered a motive for the attack.

But Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested the nascent war with Iran and the theocratic regime’s legion of “sleeper cells all over the world” played a role.

“They are in the U.S, they are in Canada here,” Mr. Ford said. “We have to weed these people out and hold them accountable.”

Last weekend, an attacker detonated an IED near the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway.

Oslo police investigator Frode Larsen said police are considering terrorism as a motive. No one has been arrested in the bombing.

Synagogues have also been targeted in North America and Europe.

Toronto police said two synagogues were shot at after the U.S. began its air war with Iran. No one was injured.

In Belgium, a bomb exploded near a synagogue in the city of Liege. The house of worship was damaged, but no one was injured.

Liege Mayor Willy Demeyer spoke out against antisemitism after the bombing and the need to protect the city from hateful acts associated with the war.

“We cannot allow foreign conflicts to be imported into our city,” Mr. Demeyer told Belgian news outlet RTBF.