LA County Sheriff’s Dept. apologizes for Iran post: ‘Offensive and inappropriate’

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) issued a formal apology Sunday after stoking backlash for a since-deleted X post that expressed condolences to the Iranian “victims” impacted by the U.S. strikes against three nuclear sites in the country over the weekend.

“Our hearts go out to the victims and families impacted by the recent bombings in Iran. While this tragic event occurred overseas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is closely monitoring the situation alongside our local, state and federal partners,” the original post read in part.

As of Monday, there were no fatalities reported as a direct consequence of the U.S. strikes against nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

The LASD’s post, which was disseminated on the department’s social media accounts including X, Facebook and Instagram, prompted widespread disapproval. It was first edited and then deleted, though screenshots remain online.

In a statement posted publicly and also forwarded to The Christian Post, the LASD expressed contrition for its original post, emphasizing that the views expressed did not reflect those of Chief Sheriff Robert Luna.

The department also pledged to launch an internal investigation to discover who was responsible and enhance “social media oversight protocols.”

“We are issuing this statement to formally apologize for an offensive and inappropriate social media post recently posted on our Department social media platforms regarding the ongoing conflict in Iran,” the statement said. “This post was unacceptable, made in error, and does not reflect the views of Sheriff Robert G. Luna or the Department.”

“As a law enforcement agency, we do not comment on foreign policy or military matters. Our mission remains solely focused on protecting public safety and serving our diverse communities,” they added, going on to acknowledge that the words of the LASD “carry weight” and that their statement “fell short of the expectation” to maintain the public trust.

“We are committed to learning from this failure and to prevent such incidents from occurring again,” it said.

“We have updated our social media post and have launched an internal review to determine how it was created and published.”

The department stressed that “steps are being taken” to “ensure that any future communications align with our Department’s standards of professionalism, respect, and accountability.”

The organization Stop Antisemitism, which describes itself as “a grassroots watchdog organization dedicated to exposing groups and individuals that espouse incitement towards the Jewish people and State and engage in antisemitic behaviors,” denounced the post in a statement shared on X.

“There were zero casualties. This was not an attack on civilians but a precision strike on the world’s top state sponsor of terror, the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps],” the group said.

“We hope the investigation yields accountability for this careless and misleading post.”

Los Angeles County is home to about one-third of the approximately 400,000 Iranian-born immigrants who live in the U.S., according to a 2021 analysis by the Migration Policy Institute.

Dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. strike on three of Iran’s nuclear sites during the early morning hours on Sunday used bunker-buster bombs dropped by B-2 stealth bombers and Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. submarines. In retaliation Monday, Iran launched a missile attack on the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East.

President Donald Trump has claimed the surgical strike “obliterated” the nuclear sites, but Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine has maintained the damage assessment is still pending.