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The White House on Wednesday demanded that ABC News retract a report claiming the FBI had warned California law enforcement about a potential Iranian drone attack on the West Coast, calling the story alarmist and based on a single, unverified intelligence tip.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that the report was built on "one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip," and accused the network of deliberately omitting the fact that the underlying intelligence had not been corroborated. "No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did," Leavitt wrote.
The sharp rebuke came as the United States and Israel entered a 12th day of military operations against Iran, a conflict that has killed more than 1,200 people in Iran and prompted retaliatory strikes across the Middle East.
ABC News reported earlier Wednesday that the FBI had alerted police departments across California in recent days that Iran could retaliate against American strikes by launching drones at the West Coast from an unidentified vessel. The network said it had reviewed the bulletin, which was distributed to local law enforcement at the end of February, before U.S. and Israeli forces launched their opening strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
The alert stated that as of early February 2026, Iran had allegedly aspired to carry out a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles launched from a vessel off the California coast. The bulletin also noted, however, that the FBI possessed no additional details regarding timing, method, specific targets, or the perpetrators behind the alleged plot.
Leavitt seized on that caveat, arguing that the network had buried the unverified nature of the intelligence to generate alarm. "They wrote this based on one email," she said. "Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story."
A spokeswoman for the FBI's Los Angeles office declined to comment on the bulletin. The White House did not respond to ABC's initial request for comment before the story was published.
A senior law enforcement official cited in the ABC report said it was believed that 12 days of sustained U.S. and Israeli bombardment had severely degraded Iran's ability to carry out any such operation against the American homeland. The intelligence about Iran's aspirations predated the start of the military campaign.
The broader conflict, which Washington has codenamed Operation Epic Fury, began on Feb. 28 when U.S. and Israeli forces launched nearly 900 strikes in the first 12 hours, targeting Iranian missile systems, air defenses, military infrastructure, and senior leadership. The opening salvo killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of other officials. Iran has since retaliated with waves of missiles and drones aimed at Israel and U.S. military installations across the Gulf region.
State and local authorities in California said they were taking precautions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office told ABC News that the Governor's Office of Emergency Services was "actively working with state, local and federal security officials to protect our communities."
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it was maintaining an elevated level of readiness in light of global events and had increased patrols around places of worship, cultural institutions, and other prominent locations. The department said it had also reviewed its deployment plans and ensured additional resources were available.
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