A plot by Iran to attack California with drones that prompted a warning from the FBI turned out to be an empty threat.
“Those threats don’t seem to have credibility at this juncture,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, in response to a question from FreightWaves in an online meeting with media on Thursday.
Reports emerged Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an alert warned police departments in California that Iran could retaliate for American attacks by launching drones at the West Coast.
The alert distributed in late February cited unverified information that Iran was plotting a surprise attack by launching unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from a vessel off the coast of the United States, against unspecified targets in California, in the event the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran. The alert offered no other details.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach which comprise the San Pedro Bay container complex are the busiest in the U.S. and are considered critical supply chain infrastructure. They handled combined volume of 20 million containers in 2025.
Iran has deployed drones to target ships, ports and other locations in the Persian Gulf region since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks Feb. 28.
Seroka said the determination was made working closely with allied law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local level.
“These ports, airports and utilities are soft targets for the bad guys, and there’s not an hour that goes by that we take our eye off the ball,” he said, “but we’re only as good as that intel that continues to keep crossing our desks and we’ll remain out there.”
Serola sits on the Los Angeles Emergency Operations Board, and he said city police and fire departments were convening a meeting Thursday afternoon.
Information that moves through the port’s cybersecurity center is funneled through the city and ultimately up to the National Crime Information Center in Washington, he added.
Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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