US President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned” about the release of classified documents on Israel’s preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
Officials in Washington confirmed on Saturday that the administration was investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, after Tehran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1.
Kirby said the US was still not sure how Pentagon documents detailing US interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from October 15-16 managed to be leaked into the public domain.
“You can rest assured that [Biden] will be actively monitoring the progress of the investigative effort to figure out how this happened,” he added.
He said the US hadn’t received any indication that additional classified documents would be leaked and has been in communication with Israel on the matter.
“We’re deeply concerned and the president remains deeply concerned about any leakage of classified information into the public domain. That is not supposed to happen and it’s unacceptable when it does,” Kirby said.
Asked about the leak of the documents during an interview with CNN, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that an “investigation [is] underway and I’ll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours.”
“We are following it closely,” Johnson added.
A senior Israeli official told the Axios news site that the defense establishment was taking the leak very seriously. A US official said that the alleged leak, while extremely concerning, wouldn’t impact plans for an attack against Iran.
The two files were published by a pro-Iran Telegram account, “Middle East Spectator,” which claimed they were sent by a source in the Pentagon and detailed US observations of measures taken by the Israeli Air Force on October 15-16 in the lead-up to an attack.
The first document is titled: “Israel: Air Force Continues Preparations for Strike on Iran and Conducts a Second Large-Force Employment Exercise.” It describes activities including ballistic and air-to-surface missile handling.
The second is titled: “Israel: Defense Forces Continue Key Munitions Preparations and Covert UAV Activity Almost Certainly for a Strike on Iran.”
The documents have not been authenticated by news outlets, and the Pentagon and the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence have not officially commented on the alleged leak.
The documents appear to have been prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), describing US interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from October 15-16.
The documents, allegedly showing a visual intelligence report by the NGA, noted observing IAF exercises using air-launched ballistic missiles (ALBMs), air-to-surface ballistic missiles, fighter jets, UAVs, and refueling tankers previously used during Israeli strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen.
According to the documents, the IAF has handled at least 16 “Golden Horizon” ALBMs and 40 IS02 (Rocks) ALBMs since October 8.
Iran has said that its October 1 missile assault on Israel came in response to strikes in Lebanon that killed the top leadership of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and a July blast in Tehran that killed Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh.
Washington has sought to temper Jerusalem’s plans to retaliate for the October 1 attack — which forced most of the country to rush to bomb shelters and safe rooms and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank — fearing that the escalating tit-for-tats could spark a wider war, drawing in others in the region.
The attack caused damage in Israel, including in Israeli airbases, though the military has said that no aircraft or critical infrastructure were hit, and the IAF is operating at full capacity.
The US has urged Israel not to strike Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in retaliation for the October 1 attack.
On Monday, Tehran wrote to the UN nuclear watchdog to raise its concerns about a potential Israeli attack on its nuclear sites, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said at a weekly news conference.
“Threats to attack nuclear sites are against UN resolutions… and are condemned… we have sent a letter about it to… the UN nuclear watchdog,” Baghaei said in the televised news conference.
Channel 12 news on Saturday evening quoted an unnamed Israeli source as saying Israel hopes that a drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea earlier in the day would give Israel “greater legitimacy for a wider range of targets” in Iran if necessary.
Netanyahu said the drone attack represented an attempted assassination and blamed it on “the agents of Iran.”