The attack plans, which were posted last week on the messaging app Telegram, came from two highly classified documents that cited satellite imagery, according to a BBC story.
The pair of documents, which are available to the U.S. and five other nations, describe Israel’s possession of two air-launched ballistic missile systems, Golden Horizon and Rocks, which could be used by the Israeli Air Force to hit targets in Iran.
Bob Maginnis, who studies national security issues at the Family Research Council, tells AFN the classified documents are a “generalized” assessment of Israel’s military plans against Iran.
"In other words, it didn't go into this squadron of F-35's will attack across this area in the Middle East, to enter and target certain things inside Iran, and so forth,” he explains. “It doesn't go into that sort of detail.”
With that said, Maginnis continues, any leak of classified information is a “pretty grave” situation.
“It's very serious,” he warns.
Who is behind the leak, and their motive, is a source of heated debate. In the news media and on Capitol Hill, a controversial Pentagon official named Ariane Tabatabai is being accused of being the leaker. A former Ivy League academic, Tabatabai was already under scrutiny back in 2023 because of her communication with Iran and its regime leaders.
According to the BBC story, however, the document could have been leaked by thousands of sources because it was available to the U.S. and five other allies: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That international partnership is known as the “Five Eyes” nations in the intelligence community.
Eric Caron, a retired FBI special agent, tells AFN he believes leak came from the “highest levels” of government.
“My guess is it came from somebody within the Pentagon,” Caron, who has experience with covert operations, speculates. “And we will get to the bottom of this.”
Behind the scenes, he says, Israel is likely “very upset” at the leak and feels it cannot trust the Biden administration going forward.
