Tensions have escalated to a global level following reports that the United States has intercepted encrypted communications likely intended to activate Iranian sleeper cells across the world.
The “operational trigger,” transmitted shortly after the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, 2026, has prompted federal agencies to issue a high-level alert to law enforcement.
According to a memo reviewed by ABC News, the coded signal was broadcast via a new radio station with international reach, designed to bypass the internet and cellular networks to reach clandestine operatives.
The death of Khamenei occurred during a series of joint US-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran, an operation that has triggered a wider military conflict in the Middle East.
While federal officials stated there is currently “no operational threat tied to a specific location,” the sudden appearance of these encrypted transmissions has forced a “heightened situational awareness.”
In the United States, FBI Director Kash Patel has already placed counterterrorism and intelligence teams on 24/7 alert, mobilizing assets to disrupt potential retaliatory plots on domestic soil.
The alert follows a week of intense military exchange, during which US and Israeli forces targeted Iran’s oil infrastructure and military command centers. Counterintelligence experts have warned that the risk of violence from Hezbollah or Hamas-linked cells in the West is at its highest since the conflict began. Major cities, including New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, have already announced increased security patrols around places of worship and cultural centers as the world braces for the potential fallout of the regime’s “sleeper” strategy.