CIA Tension Grows as Iran Deal Leaks Spark Internal Backlash

Unusual alarm has spread through the U.S. security and intelligence establishment, especially at the CIA under Director John Ratcliffe, as a deal with Iran moves closer, according to investigative journalist Michael Weiss, who specializes in security affairs. Weiss said those officials are shocked by the emerging agreement and are rushing to leak every detail they can in an effort to derail it.

Weiss described his current sources as Republican hawks scattered through the federal government. “The people leaking to me now furiously are Republican hawks sitting in all sorts of corners of the federal government. These are the people who thought the Iran nuclear deal under the Obama administration was awful, and now they are in total panic,” he said.

He said much of the anger is aimed at U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the public sales effort for the deal. “These are Republicans who have worked on Iran for 30 years, and in the end they see JD Vance selling this deal, and they are just getting angry,” Weiss said. In their view, Vance does not grasp the depth of the Iranian threat and is seen as “stupid, naive and untrustworthy.”

Weiss’s account fits a broader picture of internal division in the administration. While the political leadership wants to project progress and success, figures in the security and intelligence system are signaling deep resistance, warning that the deal could make concessions to Iran without sufficient monitoring and deterrence.