The intelligence community’s 2022 Annual Threat Assessment shows that Iran has been assessed as a threat to America and that Tehran is committed to building networks within the U.S.
With the U.S. poised to reach a diplomatic agreement with Iran over its nuclear program and a possible deal regarding the release four American prisoners, it is unclear if the Biden administration will be able to extract further concessions from Tehran or persuade Tehran to stop its other malign activities on American soil.
CBS News obtained two persistent threat assessments from the State Department that were submitted to Congress in January 2022. They cited a “serious threat” to the lives of Brian Hook, former Trump administration Iran envoy, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. These assessments, which are not public, show that the State Department assessed the necessity to provide 24/7, U.S. taxpayer-funded diplomatic security details for both men throughout 2021 and 2022.
The large security entourage that travels with Pompeo, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, has attracted attention during his public appearances, including at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). This detail is larger than that of a current cabinet member.
Brian McKeon, Deputy Secretary of the State for Management and Resources, has signed a threat assessment stating that Pompeo was facing threats from “a foreign power or an agent of a foreign country”. McKeon stated that he had made at least three times the determination that Hook was under threat and needed security. This was most recently in November 2021.
Three former and two current U.S. officials confirmed Iran as the foreign actor. However, Congress was not given details about the specific threats. The Free Beacon reported that the assessment was non-public.
The FBI stopped an Iranian plot to kidnap a New York-based journalist Maseh Alinejad. Tehran is now threatening U.S. officials. This was publicly acknowledged by the intelligence community Tuesday. T The ODNI report stated that the threat to current officials was in retaliation to the U.S. drone strike in which Iran killed Commander Qasem SOLEMANI, the country’s most powerful military general.
This past Sunday , Secretary Antony Blinken avoided a question about whether renewed diplomatic agreements with Iran regarding its nuclear program would also address threats to U.S. soil. He did not answer a question about whether any such agreement would include targeting Mike Pompeo, his predecessor as secretary of state at the time the assassination attack against Soleimani occurred. Blinken addressed the threat to U.S personnel from Iranian malign agents, saying “We will stand up and act against them every day.”
According to the secretary, Iran is still weeks away from having enough fissile materials for a nuclear bomb. This is why the U.S. attempted to revive the 2015 international accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It would have lifted sanctions on Iran in return for a temporary limit on its nuclear development. In 2018, President Trump resigned from the JCPOA by sanctioning Iran. On July 19, 2019, Iran began activities related to nuclear energy that were beyond the limits of that agreement. According to the intelligence community, Iran will continue enriching nuclear fuel into weapons-grade material if it does not receive sanctions relief.
“We made it clear in the original deal that we would not hesitate to take action against Iran if it engages in acts that threaten us or our allies. This will continue,” Blinken stated.
Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, agrees that Iran’s threats are not addressed in any new nuclear-related agreement.
“These other malign actions of Iran’s and their plots against the U.S. personnel and Americans around the globe we can deal with, and have to deal avec them separately,” Schiff stated to Face the Nation on Sunday. We must pursue all of these issues, not just in one agreement.
Although the Biden administration has made it clear that it is committed to a specific issue other than Iran’s nuclear program parameters, that is the fate for four Americans currently held in Iran. Robert Malley, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, stated to Reuters last month that a nuclear agreement is unlikely without their release. In exchange for the release imprisoned Westerners, Iran demanded the freezing of the billions of dollars worth of state assets held in South Korean bank accounts.
