The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department posted and then removed a statement expressing condolences over the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which President Donald Trump ordered to stop the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons.
“Our hearts go out to the victims and families impacted by the recent bombings in Iran,” the department said in the since-deleted statement on X, which was screenshotted by Fox News’s Bill Melugin. “While this tragic event occurred overseas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is closely monitoring the situation alongside our local, state, and federal partners.”
After the statement drew public backlash, the sheriff’s department issued an apology Sunday evening, calling the post “offensive and inappropriate.”
“This post was unacceptable, made in error, and does not reflect the views of Sheriff Robert G. Luna or the Department,” the department said. “As a law enforcement agency, we do not comment on foreign policy or military matters. Our mission remains solely focused on protecting public safety and serving our diverse communities.”
The first post came a day after Trump announced that the United States had carried out a “very successful attack” on Iran’s top three nuclear sites. American forces used 7 B-2 stealth bombers and dropped 14 bunker busters in the strikes, Axios reported, with other reports indicating that they launched at least 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Esfahan and Natanz. All three nuclear sites have been significantly damaged, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.
The L.A. Sheriff’s Department’s initial statement drew sharp criticism from the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism. “We sincerely hope your account was hacked,” the group said. “There were no victims in last night’s successful targeting of Iran’s nuclear sites.”
Both the sheriff’s department, which polices the county surrounding the city of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Police Department are already facing mounting pressure over anti-Semitic and anti-ICE protests that have engulfed the city in recent weeks. The LAPD alone arrested more than 500 demonstrators across Los Angeles as of June 15.
The department wrote in its apology that it is “committed to learning from this failure and to prevent such incidents from occurring again” and has launched an internal review into the statement.
