Washington, DC: Did Iran activate sleeper cells outside the country through encrypted communications after the death of its former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint US-Israel strike on February 28?
US intelligence agencies claim to have intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that could serve as a possible trigger for sleeper operatives outside the country.
The transmission appeared shortly after Ali Khamenei’s death, according to a federal alert cited by ABC News,
The alert cites “preliminary signals analysis”, suggesting the transmission was “likely of Iranian origin”, NDTV has reported.
The ABC news report says that the signal was rebroadcast through multiple countries, an unusual pattern that caught the attention of analysts monitoring radio-frequency communications.
The encrypted message appears to have been meant for recipients who already possess the necessary decryption key. These types of communications are sometimes used by intelligence agencies or militant groups to send instructions without leaving digital traces, as they do not rely on the internet or mobile networks.
“It’s possible the transmissions could be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert said.
“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness.”
There is “no operational threat tied to a specific location”, the alert noted.
The Middle East crisis has been going on for over nine days now, with Israel striking targets deep inside Iran and the latter retaliating with missile and drone attacks.
