Three U.S. officials say they are investigating a leak that appears to have revealed two classified U.S. documents showing that U.S. spy agencies were tracking possible Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran. .
The region is awaiting Israel’s response to the Iranian missile barrage launched on October 1. Iran claimed this was a response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and Tehran’s assassinations of its allies, including Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s powerful leader. Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
Two US officials said the leaked documents appear to be authentic. U.S. officials said the assessment is still underway, but the extent of the damage to national security appears to be limited.
U.S. intelligence agencies declined to comment on the document posted on the social media app Telegram on Friday.
Both documents are marked “Top Secret.” One headline in the document reads: “Israel: Air Force continues preparations for strike against Iran, conducts second large-scale recruitment exercise on October 15-16, 2024.”
The second document is labeled “National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.” This is the name of an American spy agency that specializes in analyzing satellite images and other sources of information.
“Israel Defense Forces will almost certainly continue preparing key munitions and covert UAV operations for attack on Iran on October 16, 2024,” the document’s headline reads, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. .
“The scale and scope of an attack against Iran cannot be predicted with certainty, and such an attack could occur without further warning from GEOINT,” the text of the document reads.
He also said Israel appeared to have deployed medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) as a defensive measure to protect against Iranian attack, and there was no indication that Israel was planning a nuclear attack on Iran.
“MRBM dissemination is almost certainly defensive,” the document says. “No indication has been observed that Israel intends to use nuclear weapons.”
The apparent leak of the two documents came after Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, pleaded guilty in March to posting a trove of classified documents on the social media app Discord. The breach was deemed a flaw that seriously harmed security, prompting calls for intelligence agencies to do more to prevent it.
Dan De Ruth
Contributed by Mirna Al-Sharif.
