By Humeyra Pamuk, Jasper Ward and Jana Winter
WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) – The FBI warned law enforcement agencies last month of the possibility that Tehran might try to retaliate for any U.S. strikes on Iran by launching surprise drone attacks in California, according to a security bulletin seen by Reuters.
The confidential alert, issued by the FBI through the multi-agency Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center, surfaced publicly on Wednesday as the war that began on February 28 with massive U.S. and Israeli bombardments of Iran stretched into its 12th day.
Iran, whose supreme leader and other top officials were killed in air strikes, has fought back with missile and drone aircraft attacks against Israel and several Gulf states that host U.S. military installations.
Several U.S. soldiers were killed on the second day of the war in an attack on a base in Kuwait.
Speaking to reporters at the White House before ABC News first broke word of the FBI security bulletin, President Donald Trump shrugged off the notion of Iran-backed attacks on the U.S. homeland.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was not aware of any “imminent threats” to the state.
An unclassified copy of the security bulletin obtained by Reuters was undated. But the prospective wording of the text makes clear it was issued before the outbreak of hostilities, and that the potential for Iranian revenge attacks on the U.S. homeland was already contemplated.
It cited FBI information that as of early February Iran “allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles” launched from a sea vessel against 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 any such attack, the bulletin added.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on the bulletin.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR NOT AWARE OF ANY IMMINENT THREATS
The U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran quickly widened into a broader regional conflict with broad consequences for worldwide energy and stock markets.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has sought to block vital oil shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz, driving up global fossil fuel prices. The war also has spilled over into Lebanon, with Israel’s military exchanging strikes with Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in and around Beirut.
Asked on Wednesday if he were worried that Iran may ramp up its retaliation to include strikes on U.S. soil, Trump told reporters, “No, I’m not.”
The governor’s office said the bulletin was one of many security updates the state received from federal partners daily. California, it said, had elevated its security posture since the start of the conflict.
In a message posted on X, Newsom said he was “in constant coordination with security and intelligence officials” to monitor “potential threats to California — including those tied to the conflict in the Middle East.”
“While we are not aware of any imminent threats at this time, we remain prepared for any emergency in our state,” he said.
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, California’s most populous city, said her office and the Los Angeles Police Department were “coordinating closely with state and federal partners to keep Angelenos safe.”
She added, “At this time, there is no specific or credible threat to Los Angeles.”
Reuters reported earlier this month that Iran and its proxies could target the U.S. with attacks.
A threat assessment produced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Iran and its proxies “probably” pose a threat of targeted attacks on the United States, although a large-scale physical strike was unlikely.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Jasper Ward in Washington; Additional reporting by Jana Winter and Ryan Patrick Jones; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by David Ljunggren, Caitlin Webber and Deepa Babington)
