OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
12:35 PM – Thursday, March 12, 2026
In separate statements, California Governor Gavin Newsom and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted there is no imminent threat to the Golden State after a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning that Iran could launch drone strikes in retaliation for Operation Epic Fury.
On Wednesday, Newsom (D-Calif.) took to social media to reveal he is in “constant coordination with security and intelligence officials,” including California’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) and agencies involved with the conflict in the Middle East, to “monitor potential threats to California.”
“While we are not aware of any imminent threats at this time, we remain prepared for any emergency in our state,” the Democrat governor said.
“Drone issues have been always top of mind, and we’ve assembled work groups specifically around those concerns,” Newsom said in a separate statement.
The FBI allegedly issued an alert to police departments warning that Iran may try to strike the state with drones. California has the highest number of U.S. military bases, including more than 30 major defense installations across all branches.
“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,” the alert said, according to ABC News. “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”
On Thursday, Leavitt called for ABC News to retract its report warning of potential drone strikes on the West Coast, revealing there is “no such threat from Iran to our homeland.”
“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?” Leavitt questioned in an X post. “TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did.”
Retired Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Mike Nelson, who has extensive U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) experience, said the alert “seems like one of any number of ways Iran might try to cause some kind of disruption here in the U.S.”
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