US President Donald Trump called for information leakers to be shot, saying US forces had been forced to cancel a military operation against Iran after details of it were leaked to the media. Trump did not specify which operation he meant, but referred during his remarks to US strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025.
Trump calls for information leakers to be punished
Trump said: “In my opinion, the leakers should be shot. In the past, we used to shoot people who leaked information,” describing them as “scum of the earth”. He also criticised the media, referring to journalists covering the rally and saying: “They’re almost as bad as the leakers.” Trump made the remarks as the US administration steps up efforts to track down the sources of the leaks.
The US president said last July that he supported pursuing journalists who receive leaked information. The measures included the Federal Bureau of Investigation raiding the home of a Washington Post reporter in January, as well as issuing subpoenas to New York Times journalists in July.
The report said the judiciary had restricted a number of measures taken against journalists, while investigations continued into officials suspected of leaking information. Separately, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth launched investigations into leaks within the Pentagon, including subjecting some of his senior aides to lie-detector tests. The report said one wide-ranging investigation was halted after one of Hegseth’s aides filed a complaint with the White House.
