Trump accuses Democrats of leaking intelligence report on Iran strikes

Washington: US President Donald Trump accused the Democratic Party of leaking a classified intelligence report that contradicts his administration’s claims that recent US airstrikes had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

“The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!,” Trump said on Truth Social on Friday.

The accusation followed after the report by the US Defence Intelligence Agency disclosed by two American media outlets CNN and New York Times mentioned that strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities have delayed the nuclear programme only by a few months, while much of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was moved before the strikes.

Trump on Wednesday took to his social media slamming both media outlets for leaking the information.

“Fake news CNN, together with the failing New York Times, have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history. The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed! Both the Times and CNN are getting slammed by the public,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, addressing a press briefing on Thursday White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said those who leaked the preliminary assessment on the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities “need to be held accountable for that crime.”

“This administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence is not ending up in irresponsible hands and that people who have the privilege of viewing this top secret classified information are being responsible with it,” said Leavitt.

“Clearly, someone who had their hands on this, and it was a very few people, very few people in our government who saw this report. That person was irresponsible with it. And we need to get to the bottom of it. And we need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the American public,” she added.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe asserted that the agency had gathered “a body of credible evidence” suggesting that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure suffered extensive damage in recent US airstrikes, reinforcing the White House’s narrative that Tehran’s atomic ambitions have been drastically curtailed.

Ratcliffe, without divulging specifics, stated on Wednesday (local time), stating that the intelligence came from “a historically reliable source/method” and indicated that “several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.”

While Ratcliffe did not clarify whether his remarks represented a formal agency assessment or his personal interpretation of the data, the statement underscored the intelligence community’s ongoing review of the impact of Saturday’s coordinated US strikes on Iran’s Natanz, Fordow, and Esfahan sites.

The CIA’s remarks came as a counterpoint to an earlier preliminary analysis by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which suggested that the airstrikes had not completely destroyed crucial components of Iran’s nuclear program.

–IANS