Ted Cruz Warns That ‘Danger Has Never Been Higher’ of A Terrorist Attack By Iran

In the Capitol building, Texas Senator Ted Cruz gave an interview in which he warned that the “danger has never been higher than right now” of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil orchestrated by Iran, which he attributed to the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

NewsNation correspondent Jackie Koppell appeared to have stopped Cruz while traversing the halls of the Capitol building, and asked the Texas Senator, “Are you concerned about sleeper cells? There’s been discussion of that.” Cruz quickly replied, “Yes. Look, the risk of terrorism right now is quite high.”

He cited the incident in the capital of his home state, Austin, where a gunman opened fire at a bar and a busy street in downtown Austin, killing three and injuring fifteen on March 1. The incident is currently being investigated as an act of terrorism related to the renewed conflict with Iran. Cruz also brought up the incident where two Pennsylvania men attempted to trigger homemade explosive devices outside the home of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Cruz warned that there is “a heightened danger of terrorism right now” and added that “it is particularly indefensible that Democrats have shut down the Department of Homeland Security, while we are facing an enhanced terrorist risk.” The DHS is currently facing nearly a month of no funding as Democrats and Republicans in Congress butt heads over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reform.

The Republican Senator’s comments come days after reports emerged of federal authorities warning California law enforcement agencies that Iran may be considering a retaliatory drone attack against the U.S. West Coast in retaliation for the strikes carried out on Iran by Israel and the United States.

According to reporting from ABC News, the FBI alert, distributed to police departments at the end of February, said “We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran.”

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on possible Iranian “sleeper cells” in the U.S. but that he was not worried about Iran-backed attacks on U.S. soil. However, since the U.S. and Israel carried out strikes on Iran, Tehran has since responded with retaliatory attacks in the region.