NEW: ICE Arrests 11 Iranian Nationals Amid Sleeper Cell Threat

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported arresting 11 Iranian nationals on Tuesday, just days after national security officials went on “high alert” for the possibility of sleeper cell attacks in response to U.S. bombs dropped on the country’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

Federal agents arrested 11 individuals, including one on a federal watchlist, as part of a series of operations targeting eight states and nine sanctuary cities.

Mehran Makari Sahel of St. Paul, Minn., was arrested on June 22. He is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who has admitted to associations with Hezbollah.

Five other individuals arrested have been charged with various crimes, from grand larceny to drug and firearm possession.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a second individual, Yousef Mehridehno, had been living in the U.S. illegally for eight years before he was detained after lying on a visa application. He was apprehended in central Mississippi, just outside of Jackson, four months after being placed on a high-priority list.

Officials have not tied any of the 11 individuals to active terrorist plots, but DHS and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi have instructed counterterrorism officials to remain vigilant after Iran vowed retaliation following Sunday’s bombing. The Islamic nation fired missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday.

All 11 men have been charged with crimes beyond civil immigration violations, say authorities who accused them of being threats to public safety.

Another individual, Ribvar Karimi, was arrested in northern Alabama on Sunday, DHS reports. During his arrest, officers found an Islamic Republic of Iran Army card in Karmi’s pocket. He reportedly served as an Iranian Army sniper from 2018 to 2021 and entered the U.S. legally in October 2024 on a K-1 visa, which is reserved for migrants marrying American citizens.

“We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out — and we are,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News. “We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”

Federal immigration officials have dramatically ramped up the deportation of illegal immigrants under President Donald Trump. Those efforts reached new heights in May, when White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reprimanded ICE officials for failing to meet daily arrest quotas that would satisfy Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

The agency has since been operating under an instruction to complete at least 3,000 arrests per day.

According to CBS, 68 Iranian foreign nationals were arrested by ICE in the past fiscal year, including 47 with documented criminal convictions. They are a small fraction of the 113,000 individuals arrested by ICE since the start of Trump’s second administration, with the majority hailing from Mexico and Latin America.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem this week activated the National Terrorism Advisory System, which encouraged state and local officials to remain on high alert about the possibility of terror attacks inspired by Iran.

At a briefing, the Trump cabinet member told reporters DHS is attempting to “get in front of” threats before they occur while “working with our local governors and law enforcement to make sure that they recognize potential threats or suspicious activities.”

Asked about the possibility of sleeper cell attacks, Noem replied only that “some [that have] gone overseas for a short period of time, become radicalized and come back.”

She added, “We have to watch for all of it, and to be diligent on all of it, and we’ll continue to do so.”

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