The Iranian regime will be waking up sleeper agents in the West to avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an ex-intelligence chief in the Israeli army has warned.
Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser said ‘dormant’ pro-Regime forces could carry out terror attacks to destabilise the US and its supporters.
It comes as one of Iran’s most senior grand ayatollahs declared it a religious 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 in the rubble following an airstrike on his compound on Saturday.
Kuperwasser, a former head of the Research Division at the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps, said the Iranian regime had supporters around the world.
He told Metro: ‘The regime has dormant cells that could try and carry out terror attacks.
‘These cells are around the globe for such an eventuality, and they are probably working to wake them up now.
‘These attacks and other steps will be aimed at destabilising and charging a price for those who were responsible for what happened to Khamenei.’
The former general, who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said these dormant cells were in place ‘in the United States and elsewhere’ where there are dissident Iranian communities.
Kuperwasser pointed to the violent clashes between protesters and police in Kirachi, Pakistan, as a sign of the Iranian regime’s influence abroad.
A mob of hundreds of pro-Iranian demonstrators stormed the US consulate in the Pakistani capital, vandalising the property and setting parts of the building on fire.
At least nine protestors were reportedly killed and dozens wounded.
The intelligence expert said that intelligence agencies will be focused on identifying these dormant cells in the West and identifying what steps they could plan to take.
He added: ‘They were dormant until now, but somebody is going to wake them up. We have to be wary now and careful of their capabilities.’
Kupperwasser stressed that Iran would likely not target European countries because they had not been involved in 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 a few hundred yards away from a strike at a Bahrain military base and that missiles were also fired in the direction of Cyprus, where thousands of troops are stationed.
Hundreds of expat British-Iranians took to the streets of London last night to celebrate the death of Ayotollah Khamenei.
In the north London suburb of Golders Green, videos showed Israeli and Iranian flags being waved at the celebration as 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 hire agents for underground activity are common when expats visits Iran.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity last July, both said these efforts are often 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 action for a variety of reasons that can be ‘virtually impossible to spot’.
‘There’ll be some sort of command,’ Prof Julian Richards, the Director of Centre of Security and Intelligence at 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 are temporarily or permanently in the country, who know when and how to activate a particular sleeper cell.
‘It might be a message on the internet, or a coded message on a chat room or some sort of pre-arranged channel.’
What will happen next in the Middle East?
Speaking about the US and Israeli military operation in Iran, Kupperwasser said the IDF was prepared for the campaign to ‘take a long time’.
He said: ‘Iran have so many missiles and missile launchers. I don’t think we can end their capabilities anytime soon.
‘It will take a while until they can no longer hit Israel and other neighbouring countries.
‘By doing that, and attacking the leadership and the security 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 had to be prepared for strikes to take ‘a week or two’ to achieve their military aims.
As well as possibly calling into action sleeper agents in the West, the Iranians will also be hoping their proxy forces in the Middle East will join their cause, Kupperwasser added.
He said: ‘They are hoping that Hezbollah and the Houthis will join in.
‘But each one of them will have their own considerations.’
The ex-general explained that Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, will fear brutal Israeli retaliation, which could undermine their own powerbase in the region.
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