WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday demanded that ABC News retract a report claiming Iran intended to launch drone attacks on the U.S. West Coast, calling the story misleading and based on unverified intelligence.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the news outlet relied on a single email sent to local law enforcement in California, which noted the information was unconfirmed. “No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” Leavitt wrote on social media, accusing ABC of intentionally alarming the public.

ABC News had reported that the FBI warned police departments in California of possible retaliatory drone strikes by Iran following recent American military actions. Officials emphasized the intelligence was preliminary and unverified, a detail the White House said was omitted from the report.

This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people.

They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip. The email even… https://t.co/jKey9ahsNk

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 12, 2026