The United States is investigating the leak of a pair of highly classified intelligence documents describing Israel’s preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday.
The documents appear to have been prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, describing US interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from October 15-16.
They began circulating last week on the Telegram messaging app. Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic missile barrage carried out by Iran on October 1, its second direct attack on Israel in six months.
Asked about the leak of the documents during an interview with CNN, Johnson, the US House of Representatives’ top lawmaker, said an “investigation (is) underway and I’ll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours.”
“…We are following it closely,” Johnson added.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon said it was looking into the leak reports.
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, would not impact plans for an attack against Iran.
The New York Times reported that officials acknowledged privately that the documents were authentic, but that they likely only represent a portion of information the US has on its close ally’s plans.
The two files were published by a pro-Iran Telegram account, the “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.” UAVs are also known as drones.
The documents 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.
The Islamic Republic has been bracing for an Israeli reprisal after its latest direct attack on Israel, in which it fired 200 ballistic missiles that sent most of Israel to bomb shelters on October 1, killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, and caused minor damage in residential areas and at military bases. Iran said the missile assault 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.
It has urged Israel not to strike Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities.
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.
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.”
US President Joe Biden, responding to questions from reporters, said last week he had a good understanding of when and how Israel would attack Iran. But he also said he sees an opportunity to end the two enemies’ back-and-forth strikes.