By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following weekend attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, the U.S. is now directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict.
“The strikes were a spectacular military success,” said President Trump over the weekend about “Operation Midnight Hammer.” Security officials say those attacks have increased the threat environment against the U.S. and its allies.
The State Department issued a worldwide security alert on Sunday—urging Americans traveling abroad to take caution. That alert followed a stern warning from a Department of Homeland Security advisory, also on Sunday:
“The ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States. Low-level cyber attacks against U.S. networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists are likely, and cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against U.S. networks. Iran also has a long-standing commitment to target U.S. government officials it views as responsible for the death of an Iranian military commander killed in January 2020. The likelihood of violent extremists in the homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the homeland. Multiple recent homeland terrorist attacks have been motivated by anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment, and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could contribute to U.S.-based individuals plotting additional attacks.”
“Such an attack could result in a very serious and very heavy-handed response from the United States,” said Armen Kurdian, a retired Navy captain and foreign policy analyst.
Despite concerns about retaliation, Kurdian says a nuclear-equipped Iran would be far worse.
“The world could not stomach Iran with a nuclear weapon. And those countries out there that are silent are silently applauding what’s actually been happening,” Kurdian said.
Potential violence on U.S. soil is not the only concern among national security officials.
“Russia and Iran, just at the beginning of this year, signed a cybersecurity agreement pact where they would cooperate with each other on cybersecurity,” said Arnie Bellini, general manager of Bellini Capital, which invests in cybersecurity solutions.
Cybersecurity experts like Bellini warn that cyber risks could be amplified by Iran’s growing relationship with Moscow and other U.S. adversaries. He says the digital front lines are expanding.
“Iran is not really known as a state sponsor of cyber terrorists. Russia is. China is. North Korea is. And so my concern- I think the concern the United States has- is that there will be a pooling of their resources to retaliate against the United States,” Bellini said.
The White House’s proposed 2026 budget slashes nearly half a billion dollars from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) – a critical agency that works to identify and manage risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on. The proposed cuts are raising alarms among some, but Bellini says cybersecurity is about much more than funding.
“The problem in cybersecurity [in the] United States is that the cybersecurity tools offered by the vendors are too expensive, and they do too little. They’re asking too much money for too little and nothing is comprehensive,” he said. “I think that there should be an effort to privatize a lot of this cybersecurity. In other words, let the private entrepreneurs in cybersecurity come up with solutions for the problem.”
In the Middle East, U.S. assets are on high alert after short- and medium-range ballistic missiles were launched from Iran at a U.S. air base in Qatar. The missiles were intercepted by Qatar’s air defense systems and no casualties have been reported.
Monday’s attempted attack on the U.S. air base in Qatar did not come as a surprise. U.S. officials say they were expecting some level of retaliation from Iran—especially at U.S. military installations in the region. Some reports suggest that key military assets, including aircraft and ships, were moved from bases in the region as early as last Wednesday.
Retired Navy captain Armen Kurdian does not believe the U.S. will—or should—retaliate.
“I very much doubt that he [Trump] will respond with retaliatory strikes. I don’t think he has to,” said Kurdian. “Now, if the missile strikes keep coming, then we may end up maybe helping the Israelis in taking out some of those ballistic missile sites or perhaps drone manufacturing facilities or drone launching sites. But I don’t see it really expanding wider than that.”
In a breaking development Monday evening, President Trump announced on social media that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran had been agreed to.
“CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in-progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the war will be considered ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
