Trump: US leak of Israeli plans shows 'enemy within'

Former US President Donald Trump condemned the leak of Israel's highly classified plans for retaliation against Iran for its massive ballistic missile attack earlier this month on a pro-Iranian Telegram channel, which is believed to have been published by a senior official at the Pentagon.

Speaking at a campaign event at his Doral golf club in Florida on Tuesday, Trump stated about the leak, “ They leaked all the information about the way that Israel's going to fight and how they are going to fight and where they are going to go. And somebody - who did that? Can you imagine somebody doing that?"

"That’s the enemy, I guess that maybe is the enemy from within, as I talk about. We have an enemy from within, they hate to talk about it. Could you imagine, could you imagine," he said.

Over the weekend, CNN reported that the leaked documents, dated October 15-16, began circulating Friday after an Iran-affiliated account named, "The Middle East Spectator," posted them on Telegram.

Axios added that the Middle East Spectator said that it had "received" the documents "from a source in the US intelligence community."

A US official told CNN that the leak is "deeply concerning."

The documents describe Israel's preparations for a strike against Iran, and were marked top secret and were intended to be seen only by the US and its "Five Eyes" allies: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK, CNN added.

Yesterday, Sky News Arabia reported that the suspect in the leak is Ariane Tabatabai, a senior employee at the Pentagon.

A Pentagon official told the network official that the Intelligence and Armed Services Committees committees in Congress had been informed of the suspect's identity due to her "top security clearance that gives her the right to view highly classified information."

According to the report, the Iranian-American suspect, who has not been convicted yet, works as the director of the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict.

The staffer in question was brought on by the Biden administration as part of the US negotiating team in nuclear negotiations with Iran but later left due to disagreements with the team leader. After leaving the team she remained in the Department of Defense as a senior policy advisor. Various Jewish publications have in the past accused the suspect of being an Iranian agent.

On Sunday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed deep concern over the leak.

“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 program on Sunday. “We’re following it closely.”

“I talked to my friend … 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.”