Description: White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has denounced press speculations that the Trump administration was looking to hold accountable officials responsible for the leakage of intelligence regarding US attacks on Houthi targets. The scandal, now widely known as Signalgate, made Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, privy to classified information regarding US military and intelligence sources and methods used to target Houthi rebels in Yemen. US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were in the crosshairs for inviting Goldberg and sharing classified information in a chat hosted on the Signal social media platform. The controversy came at a sensitive time of escalated tensions between US and Iran which mostly revolved around Iran’s nuclear program. Trump repeatedly warned that if Iran doesn’t withdraw its support for the Houthis, the US would directly attack the Islamic Republic with devastating consequences.
Impact: The Signalgate scandal only adds to the miscoordination in US foreign policy and serious lack of operational security. Trump’s unwillingness to prosecute and demand accountability reaffirms the dire state of the current US political establishment. The administration’s attempt to revert attention towards the growing threat in Iran is exclusively to simmer down the media attention from the scandal, as the US is currently positioned as adversarial towards most of its strategic allies and engaged in a trade and covert war of high stakes with its strategic opponents. Despite the scandal, US – Iran tensions are at a paramount level, as Iran is struggling with internal issues such as growing economic crisis while the US is aiming at securing regional dominance and ultimately sabotaging and crippling Iran’s nuclear ambitions.