SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California officials said Wednesday there is no imminent threat after an FBI bulletin warned law enforcement agencies that Iran had allegedly aspired to launch a surprise drone attack against unspecified targets in the state if the United States struck Iran, March 11.
The bulletin appeared to be precautionary rather than evidence of an active plot. Public reporting on the memo describes no identified target, no timetable and no publicly known intelligence showing an attack was underway.
Iran drone threat alert appears precautionary
According to Reuters, which reviewed an unclassified copy of the bulletin, the FBI warning said Iran allegedly aspired as of early February to use unmanned aerial vehicles launched from a sea vessel against targets in California if the U.S. carried out strikes on Iran. The same bulletin said authorities had no additional information about the timing, method, target or perpetrators, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said there was no specific or credible threat to Los Angeles.
Separately, CBS News reported that multiple U.S. and California law enforcement and intelligence officials saw no known, specific threat behind the memo and described the underlying information as unverified, reinforcing the view that the alert was meant to heighten awareness rather than signal an imminent attack. Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “While we are not aware of any imminent threats at this time, we remain prepared for any emergency in our state.”
At the local level, ABC7 reported that police departments in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose remained in close contact with federal partners and had no specific intelligence indicating a threat to their communities. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said city officials had been assured there were no imminent threats, while local agencies said they were continuing to monitor developments with state and federal partners.
The California memo also fits within a broader federal warning environment. In a March 2 Reuters report on a Department of Homeland Security assessment, officials said Iran and its proxies probably posed a persistent threat of targeted attacks in the homeland even though a large-scale physical attack was considered unlikely.
Iran drone threat fits a longer pattern
The latest alert did not surface in isolation. In April 2025, the Justice Department charged an Iranian company and two Iranian nationals in a case alleging they tried to obtain U.S.-origin parts for Iranian attack drones, a reminder that American officials have spent years tracking the supply chains behind Tehran’s unmanned aircraft program.
And in November 2024, federal prosecutors announced charges in an alleged IRGC-directed murder-for-hire plot that they said involved efforts to target critics and public figures on U.S. soil, underscoring that homeland security concerns tied to Iran did not begin with the current California bulletin.
For now, the public message from California officials is vigilance without panic. Agencies are taking the FBI memo seriously and sharing information across local, state and federal channels, but nothing released publicly so far shows a defined target set or an imminent attack. Unless that changes, the bulletin looks more like a warning to stay alert than a sign Californians should alter daily life.
