Recent media reports indicate that there is no sign of an intelligence leak delaying Israel’s strategic plans regarding Iran. Explore the implications of this information on regional security and military strategy.
According to the War Zone, an anonymous American official has indicated that Israel is unlikely to postpone its anticipated strike on Iran, despite leaked US intelligence documents disclosing information about its preparations.
The Times newspaper has reported that Israel had to delay its response to the missile attack launched by Iran on October 1, due to information about the Jewish state’s plans being leaked into public view.
Highly confidential documents, seemingly produced by the Pentagon’s National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), were released last Friday on an unnamed Telegram channel called Middle East Spectator. These papers described Israel’s alleged plans for a massive offensive against the Islamic Republic as retaliation for Tehran’s recent attack earlier this month.
The US authorities have acknowledged the documents’ authenticity, and on Tuesday, the FBI announced it had initiated an investigation into the leak.
In its Thursday article, the War Zone cited an anonymous US official who asserted that “we have no indication that Israel is postponing any action due to the document leak.”
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The report followed a claim by The Times, which quoted an anonymous “intelligence source familiar with Israeli deliberations.” Earlier in the day, this source stated that the “release of American documents postponed the [Israeli] attack because certain strategies and components had to be altered.”
“There will be a retaliation, though it has been delayed longer than initially anticipated,” the source noted.
The British newspaper reports that Israel is worried the leak might enable Iran to anticipate specific attack patterns, prompting it to create a backup plan.
Last Saturday, the Middle East Spectator Telegram channel, labeled by Western media as pro-Iranian, alleged that it had obtained secret US intelligence documents from an “anonymous source on Telegram who chose to remain unidentified.”
The Washington Post reported last week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured US President Joe Biden he would avoid targeting Iran’s oil and nuclear infrastructure.
On October 1, Iran launched approximately 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel as a response to the deaths of leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah, along with an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general. Although the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) maintained that most of these projectiles were intercepted, Tehran asserted that they successfully struck multiple Israeli military targets.
Israel has subsequently threatened a “deadly, pinpoint accurate, and surprising” response without providing any specific timeline.
Tehran has cautioned Israel against carrying out any attacks, promising a “decisive and regrettable” response if it does.
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