In 2012 the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Peter King, said the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah may have “hundreds of operatives based in the United States”, and he said Hezbollah, and not Al-Qaeda, poses the greatest terrorist threat to Americans.
“That estimate is on the low end”, according to Thomas Dunn, a counter-terrorism expert in Charlotte, N.C. Dunn, went one step further by saying “that Hezbollah probably operates cells in Charlotte, N.C.” When pressed for specific information Dunn declined to do that, fearing the divulging any details could compromise any ongoing investigations by the FBI and local law enforcement and referred us to the FBI field office in Charlotte to ask such questions. Dunn did say that Hezbollah has been active in Charlotte since the 1990’s.
We found a WCNCnews report that confirms Dunn’s statement about a Hezbollah cell in Charlotte, N.C. (see: Hezbollah cell in Charlotte, NChttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9K3Iz2q6Wc ).
The presence of Hezbollah in Charlotte is real. Although neither the FBI or Charlotte-Mecklenburg police will confirm that fact officially. Off record one CMPD detective said “the presence of people affiliated directly or indirectly with Hezbollah in Charlotte is something the Department is “aware of”, but refused to go into specific details on that, for obvious reasons. Admittedly relations between the CMPD and the public have been strained because of the harsh treatment by the police toward the Occupy Charlotte protesters, some of whom were arrested and dragged away by the police, literally…but that’s another story.
“There is a substantial Shai community in the Carolinas”, says Derrick Schumer of Charlotte. “They have substantial communities in Charlotte, Spartanburg and Greenville”, he said. This was confirmed by online sources, including one website in particular http://www.shiacarolinas.com/ Estimates range from a few thousand to upwards to 10,000 Iranians or more live, work and in some cases have been granted citizenship in both North and South Carolina.
“Nationally there are an estimated 1.5 million Iranian Americans living in the US at this time, not including many “illegals” who have over stayed their visa’s and we don’t know where they are”, says Hassan Mohammad of Charlotte. Hezbollah also is known to operate in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America.
The term Iranians abroad or Iranian diaspora refers to the Iranian people born in Iran but living outside of Iran with their children.
As of 2010, there are an estimated four to five million Iranians living abroad, “mostly in North America”, Europe, Persian Gulf States, Turkey, Australia and the broader Middle East, according to Wikipedia.
“Should the US launch a preemptive military strike and invasion of Iran, Hezbollah cells and sleeper cells could become active and cause us a lot of trouble here inside the US”, says Dunn. Adding it is something he worries about a lot, especially since he lives in Charlotte, N.C. where Hezbollah is believed to operate multiple cells, mainly for fundraising and cigarette smuggling operations across state lines, he said.
See related report: Iran can unleash a wave of attacks against American “soft targets” worldwide https://groundreport.com/iran-can-unleash-a-wave-of-attacks-against-american-soft-targets-worldwide/