Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the people who released some 250,000 classified State Department memos were "criminals, first and foremost" who had committed a "serious" offense.

"This is a serious violation of the law, a serious threat to individuals that both carry out and assist in our foreign policy," he told reporters, adding that it would not alter global counter-terrorism operations.

Gibbs said it was an understatement to say Obama was "not pleased" by the release, which details diplomatic episodes relating to world hotspots and includes scores of candid remarks about various world leaders.

He said US officials would lower the hammer on the person or people found to have contributed to the massive leak of sensitive diplomatic cables.

"Obviously, there is an ongoing criminal investigation about the stealing of and the dissemination of sensitive and classified information," he said.

Nevertheless, Gibbs said the massive document release would not hamper the conduct of US foreign policy.

"I do not believe that the release of these documents impacts our ability to conduct a foreign policy that moves our interests forward and addresses both regional and global concerns about the issues that threaten this world," he told reporters.

He added that, in Washington's view, the world benefits from aggressive US action on a wide range of issues on the global stage.

"It is hard to imagine progress on those issues without American leadership moving those forward," the spokesman said.

"I think it is obvious that countries throughout the world, countries in North America, countries in Europe, countries in the Middle East all understand the threat that a nuclear Iran poses," said Gibbs.

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