- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
The FBI warned police departments in California in recent days that Iran could retaliate for American attacks by launching drones at the West Coast, according to an alert reviewed by ABC News.
“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 State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran,” according to the alert distributed at the end of February. “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”
The warning came just as the Trump administration launched its ongoing assault against the Islamic Republic. Iran has been retaliating with drone strikes against targets throughout the Mideast.
You must log in or # to comment.
Gee that would be awful if they attacked us for attacking them 😩😩😩
Got to say I am glad I live in one of the least populated states and very unlikely to suffer from a foreign attack. Used to live near Boston, always figured if the nukes dropped I’d be in the first wave of casualties lol. Now I’ll just have to deal with all the nuclear fallout etc… a slower more painful death! Wahoo!
Man why tf cali? Also that doesnt sound possible. Iran has a better chance attacking the east coast
Maybe they think all the data centres are there?
According to google maps it’s about 7200 miles to hit the east coast or 7800 miles to hit the west coast.
So yeah technically closer but surprisingly close.
Plus going for west coast is mostly over ocean or China so less US military bases that would maybe be able to intercept it.
Rooting for Iran here. Not sorry. America is a bully.
California didn’t vote for Trump.
No some people in California did. There is in state that didn’t vote for Trump. Just 38.3 percent voted for him that is a lot of people.
Of course, but the state as a whole didn’t. The people that do vote for him overwhelmingly live in flyover rural areas, but those wouldn’t be tempting targets for Iran.
California is among the biggest contributors to USA gdp. They need to sink out economy to sink out country they don’t care if the state is red or blue it’s all USA to them!
Because you are one country the rest of the world doesn’t care I’d your a blue OE red state you are all Americans. Or are you on my responsible for wars your team starts. Which means all Americans are responsible for the shit storm in the muddle east.
I don’t like it and it’s not my fault, but as an American it’s my responsibility I suppose. Quite unfortunate this country marches to the drum of the loud minority, time we see a regime change here!
It would make more sense to start with Florida, which is also a big contributor and the Trumpiest state.
Do you think Iran cares? That girls school didn’t commit heinous crimes against Iranians but got obliterated all the same. The US has show quite clearly that it doesn’t matter, so why should their victims be held to a higher standard? Besides, the targets would be US tech which is a valid target.
If the Iranian government ever decides to attack on USA soil they’re asking to become a wasteland. The country and military I’m most afraid of is of the USA. They will bomb every single government facility in Iran in about 2 weeks and I wouldn’t rule out nukes.
This is what the administration wants. They have been openly laying the groundwork for it as an excuse to seize domestic power militarily. If there is an attack on US soil it is solely the Republican party that bears all blame and responsibility.
And? Right now it’s basically what’s happening, except it also includes schools and infrastructure and hospitals. You’re saying they should just sit down and take it? The US has this problem with not understanding what a consequence is and it might be time they learned.
They will bomb every single
government facilityelementary school* in Iran in about 2 weeksftfy
Yeah it would be the stupidest thing they could possibly do. The approval rating of the war is under 20%.
That said, I worry that these “warnings” are a precursor to a false flag attack.
Yes. I wonder if that’s an option on the gambling platforms?
My guess is they hit an Army base, so that they can better control the narrative.
That and just plain old manufacturing consent
“aspired”. We all have aspirations. Doesn’t mean we’re capable of doing them.
Iran is fully capable. They’re not some small spec of a country in the middle of a desert. A war with Iran is a terrible idea, not only thinking of their size but the amount of refugees it could create.
Oooh a false flag. One of many we’ll see from the Trump administration I’ll bet.
There is no possible way this would happen. None. You expect me to believe that an unknown ship would be able to get within a striking distance to americas shores, then a tony ass drone would fly undetected onto the WEST coast of Cali; all so they could blow up one medium sized building? Give me a fucking break.
False flag written all over it
Boy, do I have news for you about how weakly controlled shipping is. There are so many ships moving around with legit seeming purposes that actually do things they’re not supposed to. And sometimes the people who crew and own the ship aren’t even from the place the ship is registered!
It’s not like they’d be loading satellite visible drones from an Iranian port on an Iranian flagged container ship post attack and then running full steam toward San Diego.
Im aware of that and how ships are often flagged from other nations etc etc etc.
I just dont think that one if the most heavily surveilled nations on earth could lead a ship full of drone the size of small cars, drop anchor, then launch an attack on the west coast. It doesn’t make any sense at all. This is just more trump bs. More excuses for his terrorism
I live in Hawaii, which has banned most fireworks and gets almost every import by ship that comes through a handful of ports. We’re blanketed with fireworks every New Years anyway. Literal shipping containers full of gunpowder. Just mixed in with all the legal goods. We’ve also had Chinese fishing vessels in US waters multiple times without consequence.
It’s not about being invisible, it’s about looking like you’re doing mundane things until you’re not. Most ships don’t have schedules that are both known by the US and precise enough that dropping anchor would be meaningful. And all they need is a shipping container of drones to do some real damage to infrastructure. That’s nothing.
I can totally believe this is bullshit by Trump, but it’s not because doing it would be especially hard or implausible.
Shipping mildly-illegal goods via a third party is completely different than launching a literall terrorist attack on the strongest, most aggresive, north violent police states in the world
Not while it’s at sea. The whole point is illegal containers pass all the way through ports without any knowledge of their contents. We’ve had fireworks busts at port. You know how many people got charged for that? Zero. No one could be proven to be responsible. And drones don’t even need to make it to through the very limited inspections we have at port. Or even travel to the United States at all. San Diego is like 30 miles from a major Mexican shipping hub.
The police and surveillance state will not protect us. Because it is and has always been a sham. Being as secure as you imagine would restrict profit, annoy consumers, and require manpower they don’t want to pay for. They’d rather just take the hit and funnel the money through arms manufacturers for the response.
I totally agree about the security theater aspect but youre talking abour something completely different. There is no chance Iran could sneak drones into a shipping container then use them WITHIN the usa (even less likely than the ship), to attack americans.
Does that gunpowder originate from Iran, a place the US has placed strict sanctions on and is under constant surveillance by US allies?
There is no point in Iran striking California. They are doing plenty of damage to the US by closing the Straight of Hormuz. The cost benefit analysis doesn’t pan out. Iran would have to be as stupid as America to overextend like that.
Iran smuggles weapons into freaking Gaza. They have proxy groups around the region they arm and ship these exact drones to Russia. They are definitely not being tightly contained for small arms transfers. The United States has little to no insight into what’s actually in any particular shipping crate leaving Iran. We’re talking about an actual state actor covert service rather than a smuggling ring. They can definitely get drones out undetected.
remember that balloon(s) that had everyone shitting themselves?
99 of them, right?
Yup and the supposed “IRaNi DoRoNes!!”
I just don’t think they’re stupid enough to target civilians. Iran wants to sway the American public to sympathize.
They’re doing a great job. I side with Iran in this conflict.
I’ll gladly buy you a plane ticket to go help them out. Let’s see how it goes.
Sure, right after you serve in the IOF
That is what normally happens when you attack someone, they fight back.
Yeah. California, the blue state, attacked them. Do us all a favor and hit fucking Alabama. Or Florida ffs. Or at least hit Orange County, California.
yes, they did. they are part of the US.
those 150 schoolgirls don’t really care about polls in specific states.
Whilst this is some solid false flag BS, If they did hit Cali, it would be for the ports.
yhea, it’s ridiculous for any American to think they don’t have blood on their hands, even if they are from a blue state.
This just sounds like another excuse for a “preemptive strike”. Why would Iran attack a state that is generally opposed to war?
The government lies. We’ve seen them lie. We’ve seen so many cases of the CIA lying. Why would I believe the FBI about this.
Why would Iran attack a state that is generally opposed to war?
This is just so America that I almost think you’re taking the piss.
The rest of the world doesn’t care or even know about the politics of whatever states.
I’m not from America.
The rest of the world is watching the orange idiot and wondering what he’ll destroy next.
I just tried to send a package to another country (also not America) and the entire process has been made far more complicated because his tariffs exist. I can see the politicians in my country trying to follow his lead and destroy this country too. I hear about the holocaust level of kidnapping on the news, and watch people trying to fight back on social media.
America is on the front stage of the world, for all the wrong reasons. Most of the world is aware of America, and really does care about it’s politics.
How is Iran going to get the drones over there?
They could be carried.
A swallow carrying a drone?
European or African swallow, they have different unladen velocities.
Some Russian drones fly over Europe from time to time, to test the defences and/or gather intel. They launch from vessels that look civilians, sail under a third party flag, and transport legit goods to further confuse investigations.
Ukraine did a remarkable strike deep inside Russia by having their attack drones carried in a truck driven by a Russian driver who had no clue what he was carrying.
So the drones may have been dispatched some time ago and could very well be on US soil waiting to be activated, or they could be transported on any vessel around.
Are you claiming that Iran has had a boat floating around the Pacific loaded up with drones for the express purpose of striking California? Because Iran would have had to launch that boat a long time ago to be relevant right now.
Driving a truck into your neighbor’s backyard is very different from sending a boat loaded up with flying go-karts to act as retaliation. That kind of MAD only works as deterrence if the threatening party informs others of the threat.
I’m saying they could, and could have had these for a while, they may have a few ones that they were sending just to check if the US would detect them, they may have some on the go as a permanent operation, just like a patrol. I would say that’s unlikely, because the risk of getting caught was probably perceived as bigger than the benefit of having a strike opportunity. But as several others said before: sea traffic is barely checked.
And another option is they already have some drones hidden on US soils and dormant agents ready to launch them.
When you say it can’t happen, you understand that Russia does it in Europe regularly, right? Once in a while, they will even send drones flying above cities, airports, military bases, etc. just to see if they trigger any kind of response.
Iran does not need to test California’s air defenses. An easier way to hurt the USA would be to bomb US assets in the middle east or closing the Straight of Hormuz. Those are much easier to do for much bigger, immediate benefit.
The cost benefit analysis of striking California doesn’t make sense. The War on Terror showed how the USA would respond to a strike on US soil. The last thing Iran wants is for the citizens of the USA to be galvanized to increase military action in the middle east. Iran would have to be as stupid as the USA to overextend like that and they have not shown any signs of being that foolish.
And yes, beyond all of this, I still think it is not possible for Iran to drone strike California anytime soon. The idea of secret Iranian sleeper cells in the US is absurd, on the level of secret Japanese sleeper cells during WW2.
It directly says how in the post summary.
How did Iran get the “unidentified vessel” there?
Floating, probably.
Where was the vessel loaded with drones, and then floated from?
Do you think all of Iran’s drones are exclusively inside Iran or at no point during this highly telegraphed military buildup could they have “unaffiliated” dockworkers load crates onto an “unaffiliated” ship? This isn’t a particularly complex plan we’re taking about here and international shipping is probably the least controlled transport system in the entire world.
I’m trying to understand Iran’s plan here, as stated by the article.
- It takes at least a month to get from Iran to California, so any movement of the drones must have happened during the buildup or earlier. It feels like sleeper agent theory to me.
- Why would Iran risk getting fucked up by the Coast Guard by launching the drones by boat? The crew will all end up dead or captured by doing it that way, since there’s no friendly ports around. Wouldn’t it be better to send the drones out from some compound Iran bought on land, in the Californian desert somewhere?
- Even if Iran has a boat under their total control, they can use it better for supplies than military action. If we’re going with Iran sleeper agent theory, it would be better to unload the drones onto some beach somewhere, and then have the Iranian agents move the stuff into their compound. Or, as you say, have some “unaffiliated” dockworkers hand the stuff off to the Iranian agents.
- If Iran builds the drones on-site or legally orders some drones in the US, then there’s even less need for a boat.
So now your objection is the idea of launching from boat rather than how could they possibly get drones to within striking distance of the US?
And you think the idea of pre-deploying $35k drones for potential conflict against a president that has been antagonistic to them for almost a decade is infeasible? The county that is known for using proxy forces and smuggling weapons?
I would think Gulf Coast oil refineries would be a better target. You’d further constrain the US gas supply, and bring the war to red states, both of which could erode support for the President and his war.
I can’t imagine Trump would care too much what happens in a blue state unless it can turn them MAGA.
Get wrecked, Pedo Prez.
