WASHINGTON, 22 Oct. - (ANA) - The United States will soon begin a probe of the leak of highly classified intelligence documents describing Israel's preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said on October 20.

 

The documents, dated October 15 and 16, were initially posted on the Telegram messaging app on October 19.

 

They carry "top secret" labels and have markings indicating they were to be seen only by the United States and other members of the so-called Five Eyes allied nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Britain, according to CNN.

 

The documents describe apparent Israeli military preparations for a strike against Iran.

 

One of the documents state the material was produced by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) confirmed in an interview with CNN that an investigation is "under way and I'll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours."

 

The Pentagon said it was looking into the reports. The NGA did not immediately comment.

 

The New York Times (NYT) reported that U.S. officials "are trying to determine the source of the leak, which describes military drills and weapons placement, and how damaging it might be."

 

"The documents, which offer interpretations of satellite imagery, provide insight into a potential strike by Israel on Iran in the coming days," the NYT report said.

 

Many government officials and observers around the globe have said they expect Israel to strike Iran in retaliation for an Iranian rocket attack earlier this month -- which Tehran said was in itself retaliation for an earlier attack by Israel.

 

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

 

 

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