White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday called on ABC News to retract a report claiming the FBI had warned of a potential Iranian drone attack targeting California. The controversy began after ABC News posted on X that federal authorities had alerted California law enforcement about a possible retaliation by Iran involving offensive drones along the West Coast.

Leavitt sharply criticized the report, arguing it misrepresented the nature of the intelligence and unnecessarily alarmed the public. She said the story relied on a single email sent to local authorities that clearly described the information as “unverified.” According to Leavitt, ABC failed to include that crucial detail, creating a misleading narrative about an imminent threat.

“To be clear, no such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” she stated, emphasizing that the intelligence cited in the report lacked confirmation. She also pointed to a comparison shared by an FBI official showing how the original alert explicitly labeled the tip as unverified—language she said was omitted in ABC’s initial coverage.

Following the backlash, ABC News updated its report with an editor’s note acknowledging that the FBI alert included unverified information and that the story had been revised to reflect the full context.

The situation unfolded amid heightened tensions after President Donald Trump announced a major U.S. military operation targeting Iranian facilities on Kharg Island. He described the strike as one of the most powerful bombing raids in the region’s history, carried out by U.S. Central Command. Trump said the operation successfully destroyed military targets while deliberately avoiding oil infrastructure, calling it a measured decision.

He also warned Iran against interfering with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, signaling that any disruption could prompt further U.S. action.