California leaders mentioned on Wednesday there was no imminent threat to the state from Iran after the FBI despatched a warning to native police a couple of potential plan to strike the west coast, which was based mostly on “unverified information”.
The FBI’s alert brought on important anxiousness and confusion in California after it was made public in an ABC News report. State leaders and police officials have since emphasised there was no credible threat from Iran, and FBI and White House officials have additionally mentioned there was no trigger for concern.
Organizers of the Oscars ceremony on Sunday in Los Angeles mentioned they might nonetheless increase security within the wake of the report, and the LA sheriff’s division mentioned that “out of an abundance of caution” it was growing patrols round “prominent locations”.
After the ABC News report extensively unfold throughout social media, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, mentioned the FBI’s unique alert was “about a single, unverified tip”. She wrote on X.com: “TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did.”
An FBI spokesperson additionally printed a screenshot of the FBI’s message despatched to its companions in a joint terrorism taskforce, which is a consortium of legislation enforcement businesses. The alert mentioned: “We recently acquired unverified information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United States homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event the US conducted strikes against Iran.”
The FBI alert mentioned: “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”
The model of the FBI report ABC initially quoted didn’t embody the declare that the data was “unverified”.
These sorts of threat alerts are frequently shared between legislation enforcement businesses and are supposed to be stored inside, however will not be labeled and at occasions grow to be public.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Wednesday there was no imminent threat, saying drone issues “have always been top of mind”, and including: “We’ve been aware of that information … It’s all about a posture of preparedness for worst-case scenarios.”
The LA police division mentioned in a press release that it “continues to monitor global events and any potential related threats that could impact Los Angeles”, however added: “There are no known or specific threats to Los Angeles.”
When Donald Trump was requested Wednesday evening in regards to the issues, he told a reporter: “It’s being investigated, but you have a lot of things happening. All we can do is take ’em as they come.”
In a name with reporters on Thursday, House Democrats mentioned the administration’s lack of transparency and coordination with Congress and native legislation enforcement had “created chaos and confusion”.
“It only reinforces how unprepared the administration was for this war,” the consultant Eric Swalwell, a Democrat of California, instructed reporters.
As Iran escalates its assaults, the consultant Lou Correa mentioned he’d spoken to native sheriffs and legislation enforcement officials who have been involved that they didn’t have clear data or the protection capabilities to guard their cities in opposition to sure threats like a drone assault.
“Verified or unverified, I think the bigger issue is, are we prepared right now to defend our population, our neighbors?” he mentioned.
Lauren Gambino contributed reporting
