US investigates leaked documents alleging Israel plans to attack Iran | American military

The US government is investigating the unauthorized release of classified documents assessing Israel's plans to attack Iran.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed the investigation Sunday in remarks on CNN's State of the Union, saying the leak was very concerning.

There are serious allegations there, the Louisiana Republican said. Investigations are ongoing, and I will have a briefing on this in a few hours.

A US official told the Associated Press that the documents in question appeared legitimate, but the Guardian was not immediately able to verify their authenticity.

The documents are attributed to the US Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. They are written in a style similar to documents previously disclosed by the Pentagon, using classifications familiar to the national security community.

The first document is titled Israel: Air Force Continues Preparations for Strike on Iran and Conducts Second Large Force Exercise and the second Israel: Defense Forces Continues Key Preparations in munitions and their covert drone activities almost certainly in preparation for a strike against Iran. Both are dated October 16 and were first leaked a day later.

Broadly speaking, they note that Israel was still positioning military assets as of mid-last week to carry out a military strike in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on October 1.

Based on surveillance from satellite imagery and other geospatial intelligence, they focus on Israeli preparations for air-launched ballistic missiles, refueling aircraft and covert long-range drone surveillance in Iran and elsewhere in Iran. Middle East.

This could imply that Israel was planning a long-range missile response to the Iranian attack, described at one point as similar to the long-range strikes it carried out against the Houthis in Yemen on September 29.

This appears to reflect an effort by the United States and its closest partners to independently monitor Israel's plans to attack Iran, although they do not predict the scale or scope. No potential targets in Iran were mentioned in the documents.

Both documents appear to represent a snapshot in time and likely represent the result of ongoing monitoring. At one point it is said that there is no evidence that Israel plans to use nuclear weapons.

They refer to preparations to use long-range Rocks missiles, manufactured by the Israeli company Rafael, intended to destroy aerial and underground targets. Another ballistic system called Golden Horizon is also mentioned, but no system by that name is publicly known.

Israeli media speculated that this could refer to the Blue Sparrow missiles, which have a range of around 2,000 km and were reportedly used in Israel's limited strike against Iran in April in response to a previous attack on Tehran. Israel keeps certain elements of its long-range missile program secret to prevent its enemies from becoming fully aware of its capabilities.

Many elements of both documents are described as potentially being shared within the Five Eyes intelligence network made up of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Others are marked as shareable between the US and UK only.

The documents, classified top secret, were posted on the messaging app Telegram and first reported by CNN and Axios.

The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The investigation also examined how the documents were obtained, including whether they were intentionally leaked by a member of the U.S. intelligence community or obtained through another method, such as hacking, and whether other Intelligence information was compromised, one of the officials said.

As part of that investigation, officials were working to determine who had access to the documents before they were released, the official added.

The United States urged Israel to take advantage of the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and push for a ceasefire in Gaza, and also urgently warned Israel against expansion additional military operations in northern Lebanon and the risk of a wider regional war. However, Israeli leaders have repeatedly emphasized that they will not let the Iranian missile attack go unanswered.

In a statement, the Pentagon said it was aware of the reports about the documents but had no further comment.

Johnson said on Sunday that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling him my friend and explained how he made it a point to encourage him. He also said there would be a classified briefing and then others, but he was monitoring it closely.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the leak of the two documents. Israeli security officials were scheduled to meet Sunday evening.

The documents first appeared online Friday via a Telegram channel, claiming they were leaked by someone in the U.S. intelligence community and then later by the U.S. Department of Defense. The information appears to be gathered entirely through analysis of satellite images.

One of the two documents resembled the style of other U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency documents leaked by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leaking highly classified military documents. classified information on Russia's war against Ukraine and other national security secrets.

Intelligence analytical documents are widely distributed within the US national security apparatus, but the Pentagon engaged in an effort to clamp down on leaks by limiting them after Teixeira leaked dozens of slides to Discord, a website social network popular with gamers, in April. 2023.

The Telegram channel involved in the leak claims to be based in Tehran, the Iranian capital. He has previously posted memes featuring Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and material supporting Tehran's self-declared axis of resistance, which includes Middle Eastern militant groups armed by the Islamic Republic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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