U.S. intelligence leak heightens fears over Israel's Iran plans
American officials are "extremely concerned" about the possible leak of intelligence documents regarding Israeli preparations for conducting a retaliatory strike on Iran, as reported by the Axios portal. One such document was published on Telegram by a pro-Iranian account.
The issue involves a document published on Thursday by the Middle East Spectator account, claimed to originate from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) under the Pentagon.
According to Axios, the account has connections to Iranian services, and the post's author claimed to have received the document from an "informed source within the US intelligence community." The document is marked "top secret" and details US intelligence observations of Israeli preparations on 15th-16th October for a retaliatory strike on Iran. It mentions, among other things, the movement of at least 56 air-launched ballistic missiles, activities related to drones, and Israeli military exercises.
Americans "extremely concerned"
As reported by Axios, the Pentagon and the American intelligence community declined to comment on the issue but did not deny the authenticity of the documents. According to the portal, American officials are "extremely concerned" about a potentially very serious leak of intelligence information, although they doubt it will impact Israel's plans regarding the attack.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden stated that he is aware of the Israeli plans but refused to provide any details.
The attack would be a response to the Iranian missile attack on 1st October, which was a retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon. According to sources including the "Wall Street Journal," Israel assured Washington that the target of the attack would be Iranian military sites and not, as previously speculated, Iran's oil or nuclear installations.
