Even though President Donald Trump was optimistic Monday that the ceasefire he brokered between Israel and Iran will hold, the U.S. should remain on high alert for any subterfuge by the Islamic Republic, The Hill reported Monday.
And despite the fact that Iran’s military has been seriously incapacitated by Israel’s nearly two-week bombing campaign, it has other means to retaliate against the U.S.
Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, told The Hill that cyberattacks are the most likely option for Iran, “where they launch a bunch of traffic toward a government or a contractor’s website” that denies them service.
Steinhauer said such attacks probably would be directed at targets without significant cyber defenses, including infrastructure in local municipalities and smaller cities and counties.
“You might see some potential activity, bells going off, but maybe not like a full shutdown of a power plant or real manipulation of controls in a water treatment plant,” he said. “They probably want to scare us more than they want to damage us at this point in terms of cyber capability.”
After Trump ordered the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force in January 2020, Steinhauer said the U.S. detected Iranian attempts to target U.S. government agencies and critical infrastructure.
Another option for Iran would be blockading or mining the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial shipping route between Iran and Oman where approximately 20% of the world’s oil production flows. Iranian state-owned PressTV reported Sunday that the country’s parliament backed closing the Strait of Hormuz, but the final decision lies with Iran’s national security council.
Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., told Newsmax on Monday that U.S. military assets will effectively veto any attempt by Iran to close the strait.
“The Straits of Hormuz have always been a choke point,” said Bergman, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general. “Our subsurface and our air assets are on station right now, and they’re going to be utilized as necessary to ensure that the straits stay open.”
Another method includes activating sleeper terror cells. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said Sunday in a memo that the threat of sleeper cells in the U.S. has “never been higher,” according to The Hill, adding that “thousands of Iranian nationals have been documented entering the United States illegally and countless more were likely in the known and unknown” ways.
“Though we have not received any specific credible threats to share with you all currently, the threat of sleeper cells or sympathizers acting on their own, or at the behest of Iran, has never been higher,” Scott wrote, urging CBP personnel to remain “vigilant.”
Another way Iran could respond is by using its stockpile of 3,000 ballistic missiles, nearly half of which were fired during its conflict with Israel, to target U.S. bases in the region, according to The Hill. Iran did fire six short-to-medium-range ballistic missiles at the U.S. base in Qatar on Monday, but it appeared to be carefully planned to avoid escalation and caused no reported casualties.
Also, Iran could choose to launch swarm attacks on U.S. warships using drones and speed boats equipped with missiles and rockets, something its navy has practiced exhaustively.
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, on Sunday said he believed U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria were “certainly vulnerable” to retaliatory attacks by Iran, according to The Hill.
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