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Israel's plans for Iran attack leaked
The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.
Top-secret documents that appeared online Friday reportedly reveal Israel’s plans to attack Iran, officials told The Associated Press.
The documents first appeared on a channel on Telegram, claiming they had been leaked by someone in the U.S. intelligence community, then later the U.S. Defense Department. The Telegram channel involved in the leak identifies itself as being based in Tehran, Iran's capital.
Black smoke billows from Beiruts southern suburb following heavy Israeli air raids on the pro-Iranian Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 19, 2024. (Photo by Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Pentagon said it’s aware of the reports of the documents, but declined to comment further. The Israeli Defense Forces has not yet responded to requests for comment. It’s still unclear whether the documents were hacked or intentionally leaked by a member of the intelligence community.
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The documents are attributed to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran's blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the "Five Eyes" – the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
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One of the two documents resembled the style of other material from the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency leaked by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war on Ukraine and other national security secrets.
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The information appeared entirely gathered through the use of satellite image analysis.
A US official told CNN that "these two documents are bad, but not horrible."
"The concern is if there are more," said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.
The U.S. has urged Israel to take advantage of its elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and press for a cease-fire in Gaza, and has likewise urgently cautioned Israel not to further expand military operations in the north in Lebanon and risk a wider regional war. However, Israel's leadership has repeatedly stressed it will not let Iran's missile attack go unanswered.