Brett Velicovich, a U.S. combat veteran once called the “world’s most dangerous drone expert,” has shared a chilling look at what an Iranian strike on American soil might target — and how it could play out.
While the conflict between the U.S. and Iran is playing out in the Middle East, the ripple effects are being felt worldwide. Last week, reports surfaced that the FBI had issued a warning about potential Iranian drone attacks targeting California.
Federal and state officials, however, moved quickly to calm fears. “No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, stressing that the alert was based on a single, unverified email sent to local law enforcement.
Even so, some took the warning seriously. Security was increased at the Oscars in Los Angeles, held over the weekend, amid concerns about a possible attack.
How real is the threat?
Experts say a large-scale Iranian drone strike on the U.S. mainland is highly unlikely, though some caution that smaller, domestic terror attacks using commercially available drones are more plausible.
“I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s a goal,” Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and expert on Iran and the Middle East, told Times of Israel.
“The first foreign state power to attack the U.S. since World War II would be a huge propaganda win for Iran — a victory they could celebrate for a generation.”
Rubin points out that the Iranian regime still glorifies past operations, such as the 1980 Operation Morvarid raid against Iraq.
“World’s most dangerous drone expert”
If Iran were to attempt an attack on the United States, Brett Velicovich — a U.S. combat veteran and former Delta Force once dubbed the “world’s most dangerous drone expert” — believes he has insight into where a strike might land, according to an interview with Daily Express.
Velicovich, who served in U.S. Army intelligence and special operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, first saw drones used in warfare back in 2004. By his mid-20s, he was operating unmanned aircraft to eliminate high-level terrorists, part of a team that took out 14 of America’s 20 most-wanted terrorists in just three months.
Today, Velicovich is the President and COO of the drone company Powerus, and he’s still hands-on in high-stakes defense work.
“I’ve seen the evil of the Iranian regime all too well,” he told Daily Express, recalling a near-death experience during an attack in Baghdad in 2007 that left several of his fellow soldiers injured or killed.
How Iran could strike
Velicovich says that if Iran were to attack U.S. territory, it would likely focus on symbolic or high-impact targets:
- Major ports
- Energy infrastructure
- Large urban centers
“They want soft targets — places with weaker counter-drone defenses, where they can cause maximum economic damage and fear,” he explained.
The method? Drone swarms, missiles, cyberattacks, and proxy operations. “Drones are ideal because they’re cheap, scalable, and provide deniability,” he added.
Velicovich is careful to note that a direct drone strike from Iran to the U.S. mainland would be extremely difficult.
“Technically possible, yes, but logistically, it’s very complex,” he said. “Their Shahed drones and unmanned boats could do damage, but range, detection, and destroyed capabilities limit them. The real threat today is asymmetric attacks or covert operations rather than a full-scale strike.”
Latest update on the war
On Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the military campaign against Iran is “on plan” and “on target”, though he declined to give a specific timeline for the conflict’s conclusion.
“We don’t want to set a definitive time frame,” he said when pressed for details.
Hegseth emphasized that U.S. goals remain focused on destroying Iran’s missile launchers and navy and ensuring that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. To date, the U.S. has struck over 7,000 Iranian targets, with forces now having “even more of an exact sense of what we’re striking and why.”
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