On Thursday, 27 June, U.S. President Donald Trump raised a storm against Democratic lawmakers, accusing them — without showing any evidence — of leaking secret information about recent American airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
The airstrikes, which were part of Operation Midnight Hammer, were said to have targeted strategic enrichment facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan last week.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump stated: "The Democrats leaked the news about the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Facilities in Iran. They must be prosecuted."
Trump previously announced that the operation had "completely destroyed" Iran's central uranium enrichment capability. But news outlets, reporting on a leaked initial assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), threw those claims into question, indicating the damage could not have been as extensive as reported and might only have set back Iran's nuclear program by several months.
The leak caused outrage in the Trump administration. The officials contended that the DIA report had been formulated using limited intelligence and did not accurately represent the larger intelligence context. The administration went ahead and decided to limit the sharing of classified information with Congress members — a move that elicited criticism from Democratic legislators.
At a closed-door briefing to the Senate, responses divide along party lines. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) claimed Trump was "intentionally misleading" the public about the operation's success, whereas Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) believed Iran's nuclear capabilities had been "degraded."
According to European intelligence sources quoted in The Financial Times, most of Iran's inventory of highly enriched uranium remained largely intact because it was not kept mainly at Fordow.
In a press conference, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refuted the leaked DIA report, terming it as "low confidence." He referred to recently developed analysis, ostensibly approved by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, which showed that the strikes had caused lasting harm. "Iran's nuclear program will take years to recover," Hegseth said.
The FBI has opened an investigation into the source of the leak, but officials are still unable to determine the source or confirm any political motivation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the leak may have been from "someone in the intelligence community, or it could have been someone on Capitol Hill who had access to this document."
"We don't know," Leavitt concluded. "But I think the FBI is doing some investigating to determine who that leaker was, because it's against the law and they should be brought to justice."
President Trump's warning to prosecute Democrats elicited biting reactions. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), a vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CongressDaily, "I have been extraordinarily consistent that leaks of any kind should be prosecuted." But he also faulted the administration for its management of sensitive information. "I simply wish that the administration would maintain that same level of secrecy regarding classified information that shouldn't be shared on non-classified channels like Signal.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a new narrative is emerging, with Trump ramping up efforts to present the Iran strikes as a foreign policy success, even as the long-term effect of the operation remains uncertain.
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