House Speaker Mike Johnson Expresses Concerns Over Alleged US Intelligence Leak Regarding Israel’s Plans to Retaliate Against Iran
House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed deep concerns Sunday about an alleged major leak of US intelligence detailing Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran and stressed that he’s following the situation “closely.”
Johnson (R-La.), who is on the campaign trail in Michigan, talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that he will receive a “classified-level” briefing on the leak later in the day.
“The leak is very concerning. There’s some serious allegations being made there, an investigation underway, and I’ll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours,” Johnson told CNN’s “State of the Union. “We’re following it closely.”
“I talked to my friend Bibi, Prime Minister Netanyahu, yesterday to encourage him,” he added. ” I think that the United States needs to stand unequivocally by our ally there… we’re on a precipice… of a new era of security and freedom for Israel. And I think we’re very close.”
Last Friday, reputed documents dated Oct. 15 and 16 made the rounds on Telegram and were posted there by an account titled “Middle_East_Spectator.” That Telegram channel has a history of posting pro-Iranian material.
The documents had top secret classification markings and others indicating they were only supposed to be viewed by the “Five Eyes” alliance between the US and Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Israel’s preparations for a strike as well as the quantity of missiles at Ramat David Airfield last Tuesday and Wednesday were divulged in those documents, CNN reported.
One of the documents claimed that Israel was shifting munitions around in preparation.
Those files further alleged that US intelligence has observed evidence of the Israeli Air Force undertaking significant exercises last week amid possible training for an attack.
The leak has triggered an investigation into how those sensitive files dropped online and top US officials are worried about whether there are additional documents with even more damaging information.
Iran unleashed some 180 ballistic missiles upon Israel earlier this month in retaliation for the Israeli strike that took out notorious longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as the prior assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh was killed in a July explosion in Tehran where he was set to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Both Hezbollah and Hamas a Iran-backed proxy terror groups.
The Islamic Republic’s Oct. 1 barrage against Israel marked the second time this year that Iran has directly attacked the Jewish state.
Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate as he did in response to the April bombardment from Iran over the death of two Iranian generals.
The world has been waiting anxiously for Israel’s retaliation amid fears that it could trigger a broader conflict in the Middle East. Some foreign policy hawks have floated the idea of having Israel target Iran’s nuclear facilities.
One of the documents reportedly confirmed that Israel possesses nuclear weapons — something the Jewish state has not confirmed publicly — and that the US has not seen evidence that it intends to strike Iranian nuclear outposts.
President Biden has spoken to Netanyahu about Iran’s attack earlier this month and publicly said that he has a good idea as to how Israel will retaliate.
“There’s an opportunity in my view – and my colleagues agree – that we can probably deal with Israel and Iran in a way that ends the conflict for a while. In other words, it stops the back and forth,” Biden told reporters Friday.
