CNN
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According to a Homeland Security bulletin obtained by CNN, Iran can “target” U.S. government officials if Iranian leaders believe that the administration’s “stable or survivability” is at stake.
Other scenarios for potential Iranian targeting of US officials include whether Tehran thinks they are involved in the death of a senior Iranian leader or whether the US airstrikes will continue.
CNN requested the Iranian government’s mission to the United Nations and comment from DHS.
On Monday, Iran fired fire at a US military base in Qatar, two officials familiar with the issue.
However, the DHS bulletin is one of the clearest connections drawn by the US intelligence newsletter and law enforcement analysis of potential violent backlash against civilian officials due to Iran’s decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear presence.
The bulletin does not specify what “targeting” for US officials will look like, but the Justice Department has previously claimed that Iran tried to kill Trump and his former national security adviser John Bolton in retaliation for a 2020 US military strike in which Iran killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
“We have not yet observed that Tehran threatens this type of retaliatory action in response to US airstrikes. Recent law enforcement measures could challenge Iran’s ability to carry out conspiracies against US officials in the short term,” the bulletin said.
Trump raised the topic of Iran’s change of government in a social media post Sunday evening.
“It’s not politically correct to use the term “change of government,” but why would there be no change of government if the current Iranian regime cannot make Iran great again?? Miga!!!” Trump wrote.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that he would “simply raise questions” when Trump nurtured the topic.
CNN reported last year that intelligence on the threat from Iran to Trump led the Secret Service to enhance security around the then presidential candidate. Ultimately, these protections did not prevent the lapse of security that was not associated with Iran by a lonely 20-year-old gunman who was not accused of Iran at a July 2024 rally in Pennsylvania.
Several former Trump aides who kept security details due to threats from Iran have since faced retaliation from the former boss and have pulled those details. In the years since the US killed Soleimani, several former Trump administration officials have been bolstering personal security details.
The new DHS bulletin, labeled “official use only,” will add more context to the department’s public warning on Sunday, citing the possibility of a “low-level cyberattack” in the US and the ongoing possibility of a lonely wolf attack.
A few days before the US struck Iran, law enforcement officials told CNN they were reconsidering known or suspicious Hezbollah peers in the United States, looking for threats that could arise as tensions in Iran rise. There are no reliable indications of a threat at this time, sources said.
Iranian security services often use hacking to gather information about assassination or surveillance targets, an Iran-centric cybersecurity expert told CNN. Bolton’s former Trump official and former confidant was hacked in 2022. This was hacked in an effort to track Bolton’s movements as part of the assassination plot.
“In the short term, Iranian-located Hattitivists are most concerned about low-level cyberattacks against US networks, including distributed denial-of-service attacks,” says a new DHS bulletin obtained by CNN. “We are also concerned about cyber or physical attacks on the critical infrastructure of our hometown.”