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Comment by kjkjadksj | Hacker News Reader

Apparently the FBI recently stymied a plot that involved using drones deployed from offshore vessels targeting california. As to what that vessel might be, a submarine, a missile cruiser, a civilian vessel knowing or not, a container on a ship, the report left no indication.

Either way the target is tempting. Japan attempted it using the technology of their time which was entirely unguided. Today drones are precision instruments vs random dart balloon bombs.

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And the evidence of this plot and Iranian involvement is what?

A quick Google search yielded nothing in that regard... honestly it just doesn't sound that credible in an age where increasingly anyone can say anything. Why believe such a claim without evidence? Because it was the FBI that said it?

There are tempting targets all over the place. Like in the Middle East itself that Iran can barely hit. Their defenses and their leaders are being blown to smithereens. But you want me to believe they might have a submarine off the coast of California?

"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.”"

https://abcnews.com/US/fbi-warns-iran-aspired-attack-califor...

What is this supposed to prove? I asked for evidence. This is "the FBI said so" and as another commenter noted, in the vaguest terms possible.

Am I supposed to be impressed by this? "Allegedly aspired" so it's not even a credible plot, the allegation is they have aspirations to do something and that's all we got. We have no information about how they would actually ever carry this out. Jeepers, I'm scared. We're blowing their country to smithereens and they have "aspirations" of doing something back. Shocking. Those police officers must have been positively shaking in their boots.

If it was totally nothing, you wouldn't have heard of it.

What an amazing standard of proof you operate under.

Luckily our legal system more often than not makes it literally illegal to operate under your standard. How many were victims of people like you before they had to codify that principle I wonder. Truly stunning. If only the same level of rigor were enforced for presidents of the United States taking the nation to war. Think of how many more countless lives could be saved.

In support of your comment, the FBI under Trump has become increasingly politicized, to the point it's merely doing and saying whatever Trump's administration wants them to say. Nothing coming from them is credible. Of course they are going to inflate the chance of the Iranians magically developing a mini-sub and striking Florida or whatever.

No, the FBI warned of such a possibility, albeit in very vague terms.

https://abcnews.com/US/fbi-warns-iran-aspired-attack-califor...

And we all figure out it's possible on our own. Eveywhere possibly important might possibly be a target. Just because our emasculated FBI doesn't sniff it out doesn't mean it's not possible.

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