Iran’s embassy in South Africa issued a direct online threat against two U.S. Navy officers Friday, posting the words “We will find you” as their destroyer returned to San Diego after a historic 357-day deployment that included combat operations against Iranian forces.
The warning appeared on X on Nov. 13 alongside images naming the USS Spruance’s commanding officer and executive officer. The post prompted a regional security expert to warn that Iran’s public identification of American service members should trigger an urgent response in Washington.
The embassy named Cmdr. Leigh R. Tate, the Spruance’s commanding officer, and Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey E. York, the ship’s executive officer.
“We will find you,” the embassy wrote.
Iranian officials had previously highlighted the two officers in a March 28 post that accused them of directing Tomahawk missile strikes that killed 168 children at an elementary school in Minab, Iran.
“Remember these two criminals,” the earlier message said. “Don’t they have children of their own?”
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the statement should be treated seriously because Iran has a history of plotting attacks against American officials.
“This should be setting off alarm bells in Washington, in the White House, the Pentagon, and even within CENTCOM,” Taleblu told News Outlet. “The Islamic Republic has literally identified personnel that they allege are involved in strikes against the regime, and they’re talking about retribution.”
“If indeed there is any plot to go after these individuals, it is critical they’re detected, they are disrupted, they are defeated,” Taleblu said.
An Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the USS Spruance fires a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile during Operation Epic Fury. (U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS)
The embassy’s post came one day after President Donald Trump warned Tehran against assassinating senior U.S. officials.
During a Nov. 12 interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked how the United States would respond if Iran killed a senior American official.
“They will not exist very long, any longer,” Trump replied.
The warning followed reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had moved from his Washington-area home to a military base because of threats against his life.
Bessent confirmed the relocation during a Friday interview with CNBC, saying he had followed Secret Service guidance.
“Why am I going to be afraid when the brave military personnel in the Gulf, President Trump, constantly receive death threats?” Bessent said.
He characterized Iran as a “dangerous cornered animal” and said the threats would not force the administration to abandon its campaign of economic pressure against Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the U.S.-China Relations Gala Dinner on Nov. 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior White House official Stephen Miller have also reportedly moved into military facilities or other protected housing because of security concerns.
In a separate X post, Iran’s embassy in South Africa ridiculed the security measures surrounding senior administration officials.
“Rubio, Bessent, Hegseth, and other U.S. officials live in constant fear, haunted by the crimes committed, and now confined to military bunkers for their own protection,” the embassy wrote, adding that the officials should occasionally show themselves in public.
The messages came as U.S. authorities announced new developments in cases involving alleged Iranian-backed plots against Americans.
On Nov. 10, the FBI placed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operative Shahram Poursafi on its Most Wanted Terrorists list over an alleged assassination scheme targeting former senior U.S. officials, including former national security adviser John Bolton.
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That day, the Justice Department announced terrorism charges against three men accused of participating in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States, including an alleged operation aimed at a British air base that houses American forces.
Those announcements followed an Oct. 23 U.S. intelligence warning that Iranian efforts to target American personnel overseas had risen significantly, with some plots reportedly reaching advanced stages.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer left San Diego on Nov. 21, 2025, with the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group. The deployment was extended as U.S. forces carried out Operation Epic Fury against Iran. (Sandy HUFFAKER / AFP via Getty Images)
The embassy’s threat appeared as the Spruance returned to Naval Base San Diego on Nov. 13, concluding the longest deployment by a U.S. Navy destroyer since World War II.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer departed San Diego on Nov. 21, 2025, alongside the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group. Its mission was extended while American forces conducted Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
According to the Navy, the Spruance covered more than 88,000 nautical miles and fired dozens of Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles at Iranian military targets between February and August 2026.
The ship also destroyed 12 unmanned aerial vehicles and four anti-ship cruise missiles while facing sustained threats from Iranian drones and missiles.
“Spruance, in particular, as the alternate air defense commander was, I would say, instrumental in defending the carrier, defending the force from those inbound threats,” Tate said Friday in a Navy statement.
The destroyer also took part in the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. In April, it intercepted the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Touska after the vessel ignored repeated American warnings. (CENTCOM/Handout via REUTERS )
The Spruance also supported a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. In April, it intercepted the Iranian-flagged cargo vessel Touska after the ship failed to respond to repeated American warnings.
U.S. Central Command said the crew ordered the vessel’s engine room evacuated before firing rounds that disabled the ship.
Tate described leading the destroyer through the extended mission as an “honor of a lifetime.”
“Spruance sailors made a difference,” Tate said in Friday’s statement. “They represented their families, their ship and the United States Navy with distinction.”
At the same time, Iranian officials have continued issuing threats against U.S. military facilities abroad.
On Nov. 11, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned that Tehran could attack American bases in Europe if the United States resumed strikes against Iran.
Mohsen Rezaei, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general and member of the Expediency Discernment Council, attends a ceremony at Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s shrine in southern Tehran, Iran, on June 4, 2026. Rezaei was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto)
“If the Americans make a mistake and attack us, we will not limit ourselves to nearby bases,” Rezaei told Al Mayadeen.
Taleblu said the embassy’s latest message reflects a broader escalation in threats directed at American personnel.
“This is an escalation of the course that we’ve been on,” he said, citing threatening language from Iranian diplomatic accounts and hard-line commentators during and after the war.
“So this is basically incitement and invective from the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, one which unfortunately has a track record of carrying these things out, even with a delay.”
He cited threats against U.S. military personnel after the accidental American downing of an Iranian civilian airliner in 1988.
“Something like this is not unprecedented in the 47-year shadow war between the Islamic Republic and America,” Taleblu said, warning that the confrontation has increasingly shifted from covert activity to open conflict and more explicit threats on social media.
News Outlet has contacted the Pentagon and the White House for comment.
