Story highlights The move to crack down on Hezbollah's armed wing is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to counter Iran and its proxies

Hezbollah, which has roots in Lebanon, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States

(CNN) As the Trump administration prepares to take a tougher line on Iran, senior US officials previewed a new offensive against Iranian-backed Hezbollah, claiming the group aspires to conduct attacks against the US homeland.

"While I'm not here today to speak publicly about any specific, or credible, or imminent threat to the homeland," National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas Rasmussen told reporters, "we in the intelligence community do in fact see continued activity on behalf of Hezbollah here inside the homeland."

"It's our assessment that Hezbollah is determined to give itself a potential homeland option as a critical component of its terrorism playbook," he went on to say, citing r ecent arrests of alleged Hezbollah operatives in New York and Michigan. "And that is something that those of us in the counter-terrorism community take very, very seriously."

Hezbollah declined to comment on the arrests.

Ali Kourani and Samer el Debek were arrested in June, and charged with providing material support to Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization.

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