On October 21, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said President Joe Biden is “extremely concerned” about the leak of two top secret US documents.
The Pentagon and US officials are urgently investigating how these two top secret documents were leaked.
Previously, top secret documents owned by the US were leaked on the Telegram messaging application on October 18, with content said to refer to Israel’s plan to retaliate against Iran.
Are these documents authentic?
The above documents are believed to be under the management of the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the US National Security Agency, and are circulated internally within the Five Eyes group – the intelligence sharing alliance of the United States. five countries including the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
According to military analysts, the information in the two documents seems reliable, similar to the form of top secret documents that Washington has previously published.
What information does the document reveal?
These two top secret documents refer to Israel’s attack plans against targets in Iran, based on intelligence analysis information on October 15 and 16 from the US National Air Force Geo-Intelligence Agency.
Notably, the documents mention two air-launched ballistic missile systems, Golden Horizon and Rocks.
Rocks is a long-range missile system produced by the Israeli company Rafael, with the ability to attack many different targets both in the air and on the ground. Meanwhile, Golden Horizon is a Blue Sparrow missile system with a range of up to 2,000km.
The BBC identified the above information as implying that the Israeli Air Force was planning to carry out an airstrike similar to the ballistic missile attack targeting an Iranian radar station near Isfahan in April, but with a different scale. larger tissue.
By launching these missiles from a distance from Iran’s border, Israeli warplanes will avoid flying over some countries in the region such as Jordan.
In addition, the leaked information did not mention the possibility of Israel activating the nuclear deterrent system.
In addition, these two documents do not mention detailed information about the time and place where Israel launched the attack.
However, the US has repeatedly publicly opposed Israel’s targeting of Iran’s nuclear research facility or oil rig. Therefore, military bases, especially bases of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are likely to become the main target of attack.
Regarding timing, many people have long expected Israel to launch a retaliation but it has not yet been able to do so. Experts say part of the reason for the delay comes from US concerns about the risk of escalating conflict in the Middle East, especially in the final days before the election.
Were these documents leaked on purpose?
International media assessed that this leak was likely an intentional incident to sabotage Israel’s retaliation plan.
If authentic, these two documents will reveal the Israeli Air Force’s plan to attack Iran with long-range missiles, and signal a period of extreme tension sooner or later in the Middle East.
Chairman of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Mike Turner said the illegal dissemination of information is worrying, especially considering the sensitive situation in the Middle East today.