London police commissioner describes department’s work to disrupt Iran-backed retaliation plots | CNN Politics

The war with Iran has raised concerns about possible retaliatory terrorist attacks in major cities such as London, where the police commissioner says they have intensified focus on possible threats. But unlike in the US, where government officials have raised alarm of possible so-called Iranian sleeper cells, UK counterparts describe a more diffuse threat that could come from lone-wolf attacks. Sir Mark Rowley, London’s police commissioner, told CNN in a recent interview that police had disrupted 20 plots in the last two years. Most have involved Iranian operatives seeking to hire attackers, some through the dark web, to target Iranian diaspora members who oppose the Tehran government and against Jewish institutions, he said. “It’s sometimes ordinary criminals responding to adverts on the dark web, which is extraordinary, because it’s a different sort of state craft, isn’t it?” Rowley said of the recruitment efforts by Iran for hired gunmen, who he said were akin to “useful idiots.” Rowley noted that the concept of sleeper cells — a fear expressed by Republican lawmakers and Trump officials that agents for Iran could be lurking in the US, ready to be activated for