Fortune:

 By Eleanor Pringle

“We know where most of them are. We got our eye on all of them, I think,” President Trump told the world media this week. The commander in chief was speaking about the possibility of Iranian sleeper cells being embedded and activated in the United States.

The concept of sleeper cells—groups of organised, foreign spies living unremarkable lives until directed into action—may, in the public imagination, feel like something from the movies or the pages of a book. The same goes for lone wolves, individuals who operate without direct command or support from a larger organization.

The president speaking to this threat on the tarmac in front of Air Force One crystallized the long-held reality for defense and counterterrorism experts. Sources who spoke to Fortune are of the opinion that, out of sheer desperation, the Iranian regime may search for a way to damage the U.S., Israel, or their allies, in a bid for retribution.

The Islamic state’s losses are significant: The U.S. said it had targeted the nation’s ballistic missile strikes, navy ships and submarines, and command and control centers. As Trump puts it, “there’s practically nothing left” to target. More than 1,400 Iranians have died, according to casualties calculated by Al Jazeera. An ongoing military investigation has also determined that faulty U.S. targeting data resulted in a deadly Tomahawk strike on a girls’ elementary school, instead of a nearby military base.

The U.S. and Israel, motivated to action by national security fears, have lost 26, according to Al Jazeera at the time of writing. Trump has claimed the Iranian regime has tried to assassinate him twice, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth adding the U.S. has been aware “for a long time” that the Iranian regime is targeting high-ranking U.S. officials. Experts told Fortune that Iran and the U.S. have long targeted each other—and fundamentally do not understand each other.

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