Israel emerges as the source of the top secret intelligence shared by Mr Trump

H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, says Trump's conversation "wholly appropriate"

Trump accused of sharing top secret information on Islamic State with Russians

McMaster says real concern should be leaking of private conversations

McMaster says Trump not even aware of details of where intel came from

Trump insists he has "the absolute right" to share classified intel

Concerns now that allies will stop sharing information with US

Peter Roberts: Like the political leaders before him, Donald Trump has the right to share intelligence

​Israel on Tuesday night stood by the United States after it emerged as the source of top secret intelligence shared by President Donald Trump with Russian diplomats.

Mr Trump discussed the classified information about an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant plot to hide bombs in laptop computers on planes at an Oval Office meeting on May 10 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

View photos Donald Trump and Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister More

Officials told the New York Times the ally who provided the details was Israel, raising fears Russia could work out the source of the the intelligence and in turn share it with Iran.

Ron Dremer, Israel's Ambassador to the US, said it had "full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States" and looked forward to "deepening that relationship in the years ahead under President Trump".

Mr Trump faced a storm of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans but defended his actions, saying he had an "absolute right" to share information, and indicated he had wanted to engage Russia in the fight against Isil.

The president, who is due to visit Israel next week on his first trip abroad since taking office, said: "As president I wanted to share with Russia, at an openly scheduled White House meeting, which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety."

He said it was for "humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against Isil and terrorism".

Later, Mr Trump addressed the situation while appearing at the White House with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president.

Asked repeatedly whether classified information had been shared he did not deny that it had.

He said: "We had a very, very successful meeting with the Foreign Minister of Russia. Our fight is against Isil.

"We had a great meeting, we are going to have great success over the coming years and we want to get as many as possible involved to fight terrorism. That's one of the beautiful things we have with Turkey."

His comments appeared to undermine previous statements by White House staff, who had denied classified information was shared with the Russians.

The Kremlin also issued a denial. Vladi­mir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: "This is another piece of nonsense."

According to the Washington Post at the May 10 meeting Mr Trump disclosed the city in Isil territory where information about the electronics plot had originated. That was reportedly "code word" information, a level above top secret, meaning the ally wanted it "compartmentalised" and not shared with third countries, or even parts of the US government.

Intelligence experts said Russia may be able to discover the source of the information from what Mr Trump told them, putting the source, and US relations with intelligence allies, in danger.

As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017

...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017

However, H.R. McMaster, Mr Trump's national security adviser, who was at the meeting with the Russian diplomats, said it was "wholly appropriate" for Mr Trump to share the information and it "in no way" compromised intelligence sources or methods, or national security.

Story continues