FBI Warns California Police of Iranian Drone Attack Plot as U.S.-Iran War Escalates
The FBI has issued an urgent alert to California law enforcement warning that Iran allegedly considered launching an offshore drone attack against the state — and the threshold condition that would have triggered that plot has already been crossed. The bulletin, distributed to police departments and Joint Terrorism Task Force partners in late February, is now public. The White House has not commented.
What the FBI Alert Says
The intelligence bulletin stated that authorities received information indicating Tehran had considered launching unmanned aerial vehicles from a vessel positioned off the U.S. coastline as a possible response if the United States conducted military strikes against Iran.
The FBI's own language made the limits of its knowledge explicit. "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 States 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."
The conditional has since been met. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint operation codenamed Epic Fury — a series of strikes targeting Iranian command centers and nuclear facilities. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed when his compound in Tehran was destroyed. His son Mojtaba Khamenei, named as successor, survived with minor injuries.
A War Already Claiming American Lives
The broader conflict is escalating fast. Seven U.S. soldiers have been killed and eight seriously wounded, according to the Pentagon. Three merchant vessels were struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday alone, bringing the total number of ships attacked since the war began to 14.
Iran has closed the Strait to tanker traffic, sending crude oil prices surging past $100 a barrel and prompting the International Energy Agency to authorize its largest-ever coordinated release of emergency oil reserves. The economic shockwave is global.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps escalated its rhetoric further Wednesday. The IRGC threatened to attack U.S. tech companies including Google and Nvidia — both headquartered in California. That threat is unconfirmed and under review by federal authorities.
The Drone Threat: Plausible or Overblown?
The mechanism being discussed — drones launched from an offshore vessel — is not theoretical. Intelligence officials have long been concerned about adversaries pre-positioning equipment, either on land or aboard ships, in anticipation of conflict with the United States or Israel.
Former Obama-era Department of Homeland Security official John Cohen addressed the capability question directly. "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."
A separate September 2025 FBI bulletin had already warned that unidentified cartel leaders allegedly authorized the use of explosive-carrying drones against American law enforcement and military personnel near the southern border — a scenario described as unprecedented but plausible. The infrastructure for drone deployment near U.S. territory is not a new concern.
Sleeper Cells, Cyberattacks, Tech Targets
The drone plot is one piece of a larger threat picture. A Council on Foreign Relations report published March 5 identified sleeper agents, lone actors inspired by Iran, cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, and physical attacks on critical infrastructure as the primary retaliatory vectors. Iran and Hezbollah "have long had sophisticated cyber capabilities," the report noted, warning that the U.S. is in an "unprecedented dangerous situation."
Experts have also flagged the Oscars as a potential target, given its concentration of high-profile figures and international media presence. That threat is unconfirmed.
The FBI Los Angeles field office, the LAPD, California Governor's office, and the Los Angeles Mayor's office had not responded to press requests as of Wednesday afternoon ET. The alert was designed to prompt vigilance — not to signal an imminent confirmed attack.
