U President Donald Trump on Thursday accused congressional Democrats of leaking classified information about recent US military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and called for them to be “prosecuted.”
“The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted,” Trump posted on Truth Social, without offering evidence.
The Republican President also criticised the media coverage of the leaked intelligence and demanded that the journalists involved in reporting the document be fired.
The leak in question involved a preliminary assessment by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) saying that the recent strikes under America’s Operation Midnight Hammer may not have had as severe an impact on Iran’s nuclear program as initially claimed by the administration, reported news agency AFP.
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The leak infuriated Trump and top defence officials, who argued the report was incomplete and prematurely publicised. In response, the White House announced tighter controls on classified information shared with Congress, a move that has sparked backlash from Democratic lawmakers.
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“President Donald Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating — choose your word — obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” AFP quoted Hegseth as saying during a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday.
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Hegseth criticised the coverage of the report, singling out major news outlets. “Whether it’s fake news CNN, MSNBC or the New York Times, there’s been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment,” he said. He suggested the leak was driven by an anti-Trump agenda: “It was leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also attacked the media, calling the Iran operation “one of the most successful operations in United States history.” She accused CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand, one of the journalists who reported on the leak, of being “used by people who dislike Donald Trump in this government to push fake and false narratives.”
CNN responded by saying it stands by Bertrand and her reporting.
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Trump has repeatedly claimed that US strikes were “very successful” and that they have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites. He added that the operation was a “spectacular military success,” he declared, a line echoed by senior officials, including Pete Hegseth.
Operation Midnight Hammer
Last weekend, American B-2 stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz. A third target, the Isfahan facility, was hit by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a US navy submarine.
The strikes came days after Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign on June 13 targeting Iranian nuclear scientists, military commanders, and enrichment facilities. Though Iran has maintained that its program is civilian in nature, Washington and its allies have long accused Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.
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Trump had initially pursued a diplomatic replacement for the 2015 nuclear deal, which he withdrew from during his first term in office. But after weeks of rising tensions and failed negotiations, he opted for military action.
