The U.S. struck deep at Iran’s leadership in 2026, and that attack exposed a new and dangerous reality: America’s homeland faces a threat it didn’t have in 2020. Back then Iran lacked the footprint to launch strikes on U.S. soil, but policy choices since have widened the gap between capability and vulnerability. This piece reviews how porous borders, relaxed vetting, and ideological softness have shifted risk onto American streets and what a responsible response must look like.
When the U.S. killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, Iran lashed out abroad but stopped short of striking the homeland, partly because Tehran simply did not have the networks inside our borders. U.S. intelligence at the time found threats overseas but no credible, operational plot on American soil. That gap mattered: it meant the American people were spared the kind of revenge attack Iran considered.
From 2000 to 2019, encounters with Iranians at the U.S. southern border averaged less than 20 annually, a fact that helped keep hostile influence limited. Strong vetting and firm enforcement under the previous administration made infiltration difficult and predictable. Those policies constricted Tehran’s ability to seed assets or embed reliable operatives within American communities.
Now the battlefield has changed. In March 2026, Operation Epic Fury leveled key Iranian nuclear sites and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Tehran has fired missiles at U.S. outposts across the region. That escalation forces a sober look at the homeland risk picture, because where states cannot retaliate globally they look for asymmetric avenues, including proxies and covert networks.
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After Soleimani’s death, Iran ran aspirational plots, including planned assassinations of U.S. officials, but those designs never took root inside the United States. Officials warned of Iran’s use of proxies such as Hezbollah but repeatedly stressed a lack of immediate domestic capability. Homeland security focused on foreign threats, and those warnings helped prioritise protective measures abroad rather than panic at home.
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The danger now is different and homegrown in the worst sense: the potential activation of sleeper networks or lone actors within the United States. “Harsh retaliation” from Tehran was threatened before, and today similar rhetoric accompanies a more dangerous operational environment. If hostile actors have people on our soil with intent and opportunity, the calculus for retaliation looks much darker.
Policies enacted over four years that expanded loopholes and slowed deportations changed the mix of who reaches American communities. Reports show that 729 individuals were released into the U.S. amid overwhelmed systems, and in June 2025 ICE detained 11 Iranians here illegally, including a former army sniper, a Revolutionary Guard member, and a Hezbollah affiliate. Those are not abstractions; they are specific people whose presence demands clarity and action.
Border enforcement failures did not create Iran, but they made it easier for Tehran’s sympathizers to find shelter and for proxy networks to use established trafficking routes. Border Czar Tom Homan and other critics warned that the southern border had become a “sieve” for bad actors, and DHS alerts flagged the same risks. Hezbollah’s long-standing hubs in Latin America remain a pipeline that can be exploited if enforcement is lax.
With Iran cornered after devastation to its leadership and infrastructure, desperation grows and so does the incentive to strike at easy targets. Leaders like Texas Governor Greg Abbott have urged vigilance against “sleeper cells or lone wolves,” and national security officials have called for raised alerts over possible infiltration. The choice facing policymakers is stark: restore strict vetting, tighten enforcement, and remove identified threats, or accept higher risk to American lives.
Prevention requires policy that treats borders and vetting as national security priorities, not political talking points. The Trump-era approach favored enforcement, tough sanctions, and law-based immigration rules that reduced Tehran’s reach, and many argue we should return to that posture with urgency. In a world where enemies will exploit openings, only clear, sustained action will keep the homeland safe.
1 Comment
Biden and Mayorkas intentionally imported terrorists by the thousands, possibly millions.