US govt employee behind leaking of Israel’s plan to attack Iran

A US government employee has been indicted for leaking classified national defence information, according to federal court records unsealed on Wednesday.

The indictment, charging Asif William Rahman with two counts of willfully transmitting classified information, does not provide details about the nature of the leak.

However, it says the leak occurred on or about October 17.

That was around the time that a pro-Iranian Telegram account called “Middle East Spectator” published what appeared to be a pair of documents produced by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency which shared information about Israel’s preparations for an attack on Iran.

The intelligence in the documents was based on satellite imagery from Oct 15 to 16.

In a previous statement, the Middle East Spectator said it had received the documents through an anonymous source, and that it had no connection to the original leaker nor could it verify the authenticity of the documents.

The FBI in October confirmed it was investigating who had leaked the documents.

According to the indictment, which is dated November 7, investigators believe the leak took place in Cambodia.

Rahman was arrested in Cambodia on Nov 12, and is expected to make an initial court appearance in a federal court in Guam on Nov 14 before he is transferred to stand trial in the Eastern District of Virginia.