President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned” about the leak of classified documents including a US assessment of Israel’s plan to attack Iran, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Mr. Kirby said officials have not yet determined whether the documents were released as a result of a hack or a leak.
House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed the release of the documents over the weekend. They are believed to contain movements of Israeli military assets in preparation for responding to Iran’s October 1 missile attack.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country was ready to counter any Israeli attack.
CBS, the BBC’s US partner, reported that the documents, marked as top secret, could be shared within the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
There is no “indication” that additional documents will “[find] their way into the public domain,” Mr. Kirby said Monday.
He added that President Biden “will actively monitor” the investigation to find out how the documents were released and that he intends to hear what measures will be taken “to prevent it from happening again ”.
For weeks, Israel has been deciding how and when to respond to Iran’s latest missile attack. Israel’s Defense Minister warned that the attack would be “deadly, precise and surprising”.
The two documents appear to be from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency (NSA), and were published on an Iran-linked Telegram account on Friday.
Johnson, the highest-ranking member of Congress, told CNN on Sunday that “the leak is very disturbing.”
“There are some serious allegations being made, an investigation is underway and I will have a briefing on that in a few hours,” the Louisiana Republican lawmaker said.
The Pentagon confirmed in a statement that it was aware of reports of the documents but did not comment further.
Neither the relevant US agencies nor the Israeli government have publicly commented.
CNN and Axios first reported on the alleged leak, which appeared to once again confirm that the US had been spying on its close ally Israel.
A document referring to Israel’s nuclear capabilities – which neither the US nor Israel has ever officially acknowledged – appears to rule out the use of such an option in any planned attack .
A former US intelligence official told the BBC that the illegal release was probably an attempt to expose the scale of the planned retaliation, possibly to disrupt it.
Officials told the Associated Press (AP) that the US is investigating whether the information was intentionally leaked by a US agent or stolen, possibly by hacking.
These two documents appear to be based on satellite information obtained from October 15-16.
According to Reuters news agency, the first document is titled: “Israel: Air Force continues to prepare to attack Iran and conducts second large force exercise”. It describes the handling of ballistic and air-to-ground missiles.
The second report was titled: “Israel: Self-Defense Forces Continue to Prepare Critical Ammunition and Covert Drone Operations Almost Certain to Attack Iran.” It discusses Israel’s drone operations.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he “clearly understands” what Israel is planning.
“Do you have a clear understanding of what Israel will do right now in response to Iran… and when they will actually respond?” a reporter asked him.
“Yes, and yes,” Biden replied.
“Can you tell us?” the reporter asked.
“No, and no.”
