US investigating alleged leak of confidential Israeli plans for attack on Iran

(Patria) - The US will soon investigate the leak of highly confidential intelligence documents describing Israel's preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, said US House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday.

The documents, dated October 15 and 16, were initially published on Friday on the messaging app Telegram, reported the English-language editorial team of Radio Free Europe.

They are marked "top secret" and have features indicating they can only be viewed by the US and other members of the Five Eyes alliance - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, CNN reports.

The documents appear to describe Israeli military preparations for an attack on Iran. One of them states that the material was compiled by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, confirmed to CNN that the investigation is "ongoing and that I will receive a briefing on it in a few hours."

The Pentagon said it is examining the reports. The NGA has not commented on the case so far.

The New York Times (NYT) reported that US officials are "trying to determine the source of the leak, which describes military exercises and weapons deployment, and how damaging it could be."

"The documents, which offer an interpretation of satellite imagery, provide insight into a potential Israeli attack on Iran in the coming days," the NYT reports.

Many government officials and observers around the world have said they expect Israel to attack Iran in retaliation for the Iranian missile attack earlier this month - which Tehran says was itself retaliation for a previous Israeli attack.

Officials told the NYT that the documents are not a comprehensive assessment of what Washington knows about Israeli plans and represent only what analysts looking at satellite imagery could determine.