The FBI has charged a US official after leaking Israel’s “top secret” plans to bomb Iran, court documents have revealed.
Asif William Rahman – who worked abroad for the CIA – has been accused of leaking classified documents over potential Israeli plans to organise a retaliatory strike against Iran.
Since his arrest in Cambodia, the civil servant has faced two counts of violating the Espionage Act 1917 and has been summoned to a federal court in Guam, The New York Times has reported.
The FBI has confirmed that it had launched a federal investigation in October into a possible leak of two intelligence documents, which outlined Israeli plans to launch an attack on Iran.
The FBI has confirmed that it had launched a federal investigation in October into a possible leak of two intelligence documents, which outlined Israeli plans to launch an attack on Iran (Stock)
REUTERS
Rahman has been indicted in the state of Virginia on two counts of wilful transmission of national defence information.
The shared documents detailed interpretations of satellite imagery by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and information analysis of US spy satellites and the National Security Agency.
Stamped “top secret”, the documents were shared on the Telegram messaging app last month.
One document reads: “We cannot definitively predict the scale and scope of a strike on Iran and such a strike can occur with no further GEOINT warning.”
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It added that they had “not observed indications that Israel intends to use a nuclear weapon”.
When Israel dispersed its medium-range ballistic missiles – which were, at first, believed to be part of a nuclear delivery system – they were later suggested to be defensive systems.
Like Israel, America has never outwardly acknowledged Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
The second leaked document was said to have included a detailed description of two Israel air force exercises – refuelling aircraft, as well as an early warning aircraft.
The channel through which the information was shared insisted that the documents had been shared to a private group that had around 7,000 members (Stock)
REUTERS
The channel through which the information was shared insisted that the documents had been shared to a private group that had around 7,000 members.
Telegram’s statement said: “We also reiterate that we have no connection to the original source, which we assume to be a whistleblower within the US Department of Defence.”
Another source from the Telegram group claimed that the leaked documents had been received via an anonymous source.
The group is said to be organised by independent journalists, insisting that it is not Iran-affiliated, despite referring to the Israeli state as a “Zionist regime” and running according to Tehran’s timezone.