Last week, reports surfaced that the FBI had issued a warning about potential Iranian drone attacks on California.

Federal and state officials downplayed the threat, saying there were no indications of an imminent attack.

“No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Some still took the danger seriously, though — the Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles over the weekend, beefed up security due to fears of a possible attack.

But could Iran actually attack the US homeland with military drones? Two experts said it was unlikely Iran has the capability, although one added that a domestic terrorist attack using drones was more realistic.

“I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s a goal,” said Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank who specializes in Iran, Turkey and the wider Middle East.

The initial FBI warning reportedly said that Iran “allegedly aspired” to a drone attack from an “unidentified vessel” off the coast, but did not say that Iran had the capability. The warning came immediately before the outbreak of the war and said it had “no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”

Leavitt said the warning was based on “one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip.”

Rubin, a former Pentagon official who has lived in Iran, said it was an aspiration for Iran because a successful attack would be a boon for the regime’s standing.

“The first foreign state power to attack the US since World War II would be a hook upon which Iranians could claim victory for a generation,” he said, noting that the Iranian regime still celebrates........

© The Times of Israel