The FBI warned police departments in California in recent days that Iran could retaliate for U.S. attacks by trying to launch drones at the West Coast, a threat described in a late-February alert reviewed by ABC News as officials weighed whether a conflict centered thousands of miles away could produce risks on the U.S. mainland.
The bulletin said authorities had obtained information indicating that, as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to carry out a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the U.S. coast against unspecified targets in California if the U.S. struck Iran.
The alert, distributed at the end of February, said authorities had no additional information on timing, method, target, or perpetrators.
That left California law enforcement with a warning serious in its implications but thin on operational detail, sketching a possible retaliation scenario without saying when it might unfold, who might carry it out, or how any launch vessel would get close enough to the coast to do so.
The warning emerged against a broader backdrop of homeland threats that federal officials have already acknowledged.
The Department of Homeland Security's National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin, issued June 22, 2025, stated that the Iran conflict had created a "heightened threat environment" in the United States.
DHS's 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment also said Iran remains capable of using proxies and partners to pursue attacks, including against current and former U.S. officials, while relying on asymmetric methods that can complicate detection and attribution.
More recently, a separate DHS intelligence assessment reviewed by Reuters said that although a large-scale physical attack in the United States was unlikely, Iran and its proxies probably posed a persistent threat of targeted attacks in the homeland and could escalate retaliatory actions under some scenarios.
That assessment does not confirm the specific California drone warning, but it places the FBI alert inside a broader pattern of federal concern about Iranian retaliation.
For now, the California alert remains more an outline than a confirmed plot.
No public FBI bulletin, court filing, or other primary public document was available to verify the warning's text independently; Reuters and the Los Angeles Times later reported the alert separately, but neither publication provided a primary public document for it.
Even so, the episode shows how local police agencies are being asked to think about drone threats not only at the border or around critical infrastructure but also from offshore during a period of elevated tension with Iran.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.