UPDATE: White House pushes back against ABC report warning about potential Iranian drone strikes in California
“TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” Leavitt wrote.
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“TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” Leavitt wrote.
Update: In a post on Thursday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote, "This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people."
"They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip. The email even states the tip was based on *unverified* intelligence. Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story! WHY? TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did."
https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/2032118372901527884?s=20
Original story follows below.
The FBI has warned police departments in California that Iran had plans to strike the West Coast with drones in retaliation for a US attack on its soil.
An FBI alert distributed at the end of February obtained by ABC News read, "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. We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack."
On February 28, the US launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran, which has been ongoing since then.
A September 2025 bulletin also warned about the possibility for Mexican cartels to use drones to attack American personnel near the US-Mexico border. "An uncorroborated report suggested that unidentified Mexican cartel leaders had authorized attacks using UAS (drones) carrying explosives against US law enforcement and US military personnel along the US-Mexico border," the bulletin said.
"This type of attack against US personnel or interests inside the United States would be unprecedented but exemplifies a plausible scenario, although (cartels) typically avoid actions that would result in unwanted attention or responses from US authorities."
Former DHS intelligence head and ABC News contributor John Cohen said, "We know Iran has an extensive presence in Mexico and South America, they have relationships, they have the drones and now they have the incentive to conduct attacks. The FBI is smart for putting this warning out so that state and locals can be better able to prepare and respond to these types of threats. Information like this is critically important for law enforcement."
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