Trump says DHS shutdown limits response to potential Iranian sleeper cells

After being asked whether Iran had activated sleeper cells inside the United States, President Trump said U.S. officials know “a lot” about them but blamed the DHS shutdown for limiting the response.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump was asked whether Iran had activated any sleeper cells inside the United States. He responded by saying Iran had “been trying for a long time” and that the U.S. was “very much on top of it.”

“We know a lot about them, but the shutdown doesn’t allow us to do what we have to do,” Trump added, after blaming Democrats for the DHS shutdown.

The question followed an ABC News report earlier Monday that said a federal alert sent to law enforcement warned that encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran may serve as “an operational trigger” for sleeper assets outside the country.

According to ABC, the alert cited preliminary signals analysis of a transmission “likely of Iranian origin” that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.

The transmission was encoded and appeared to be intended for clandestine recipients who possess the encryption key, allowing instructions to be passed to covert operatives or sleeper assets without using the internet or cellular networks.

The alert said the transmissions could be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country, though it added there was no operational threat tied to a specific location.

The alert instructed law enforcement agencies to increase monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity, according to ABC.

Trump previously acknowledged the possibility of retaliatory attacks in the United States in an interview published by Time on Thursday.

“I guess,” Trump said when asked whether Americans should be worried. “But I think they’re worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it. But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”

In June 2025, before the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran reportedly warned Trump through an intermediary it would activate sleeper-cell operatives in the United States if the sites were targeted, according to an NBC News report at the time.

.@POTUS on the potential for Iranian sleeper cells: "We've been very much on top of it. One of the things we have to do is get the Democrats to stop the Democrat shutdown because, as you know, the apparatus that looks into that (@DHSgov), Schumer the Democrats have shut it down." pic.twitter.com/n8Z5T5ZoNM

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 9, 2026