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President Donald Trump has said that former President Joe Biden allowed "a lot of sleeper cells" into the United States during his presidency. This comes after the president ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities. This also comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken 11 Iranian nationals into custody in 48 hours.
While aboard Air Force One, Trump told the press when he was asked about the possibility of Iranian sleeper cells in the US, "Biden led a lot of sleeper cells in. Biden was an incompetent president. He had no idea what he was doing."
"Hardly ever signed a document. Other people signed documents for him with the auto pen. It was gross incompetence. And among everything else, he let a lot of sleeper cells in, many from Iran, but hopefully we'll take care of them," the president continued, adding that the actions of the Biden administration should "never be forgotten."
According to CBS News, in nine cities nationwide, ICE has arrested 11 Iranian foreign nationals in a 48-hour span. Among those who have been taken into custody is Mehran Makari Sahel, who was arrested near St. Paul, Minnesota. Authorities said that he is a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a military arm of the Iran's terror regime. He also has "admitted connections to Hezbollah," a terrorist group.
In addition to the arrest of Sahel, there were others taken into custody that had previous convictions related to crimes from grand larceny to firearm possession. Yousef Mehridehno, another Iranian national who was illegally living in the US for 8 years, was arrested. He was added to the terror watchlist in February and ICE took him into custody in Mississippi.
Another Iranian national arrested was Ribvar Karmi, who was taken into custody in northern Alabama. When he was arrested, he had an Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card with him. Authorities said he was an Iranian sniper from 2018 to 2021 and then entered the US under a K-1 visa, which is reserved for foreign nationals who are married to US citizens.
The comments from Trump come after there have been reports about the FBI ramping up the monitoring of possible sleeper cells linked to Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah in the United States.
Reports about the initiative said that the operations to identify the sleeper cells were increased earlier this month when Israel launched its attack on Iran with Operation Lion Rising. Iran also reportedly threatened to attack the homeland of the US if Trump took out the terror regime's nuclear facilities, which the president ordered last week. Amid the threat from Iran, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a national terrorism advisory notice.
Iran has previously threatened the US as well as US officials after the killing of Iranian military head Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated after an order was given by Trump in his first term. Iran made a weak attempt to attack US military bases in the Middle East on Monday, resulting in no casualties of US personnel, and the missiles shot at the base in Qatar were intercepted.
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