(TJV NEWS) The United States faces a continuing threat of Iranian-directed terror attacks in the wake of Washington’s June strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, according to a new counterterrorism assessment.

As The Algemeiner reported, the August 2025 issue of CTC Sentinel, published by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, features a detailed study by Matthew Levitt, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Levitt warned that while the recent 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran has ended, the danger of reprisal attacks on American soil “looms large, and will for the foreseeable future.”

Levitt explained that Iran has spent years cultivating a so-called “homeland option,” with U.S. authorities disrupting at least 17 plots in the past five years. According to The Algemeiner, cases have included both Iranian operatives and criminal surrogates, ranging from a Hezbollah operative in Texas who purchased 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate to surveillance missions carried out in New York and Canada.

Following the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, law enforcement has heightened monitoring of Iran-backed operatives. Levitt outlined possible methods of attack, including the deployment of agents, proxies, criminal networks, or attempts to radicalize lone actors inside the United States.

The report, cited by The Algemeiner, also highlighted Iranian efforts to manipulate American opinion on Israel. A Department of Homeland Security assessment from October 2024 revealed Tehran’s information operations aimed at weakening U.S. support for Israel following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre. These activities included posing as activists online and promoting anti-Israel protests.

High-profile potential targets, Levitt noted, could include U.S. government officials, Jewish communities, Israelis, and Iranian dissidents. “If there were ever a time Iran would want to activate its homeland option, this would be it,” he warned.

Attorney General Pam Bondi echoed these concerns in congressional testimony earlier this summer, stressing that federal agencies are coordinating to “protect Americans and to keep us safe.”

The Algemeiner further reported Levitt’s conclusion that Iran views terrorism as an extension of foreign policy, citing CIA assessments that Tehran has consistently used such tactics to advance its strategic aims. He also underscored the role of ideology, with Iranian leaders framing terrorism as part of a religious duty to export their revolution.

On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reinforced this rhetoric in a televised speech, insisting that Iran would never bow to U.S. pressure. According to Iranian state media, Khamenei declared: “The Iranian nation will stand with all of its power against those who have such erroneous expectations.”

Finally, The Algemeiner noted that the Department of Homeland Security’s 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment continues to list Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, with active plots against U.S. officials still under consideration. Levitt warned that even if the coming weeks pass without an incident,