The charging of CIA official Asif Rahman for allegedly leaking US intelligence of Israeli preparations for retaliatory strikes on Iran in October has brought into open view the shadow war of espionage and counterespionage that has raged between actors locked in a regional conflict for decades.
The Iran-based Telegram channel Rahman is accused of leaking to disavows any connection with Iran’s government, but that the affair has embarrassed a US administration reeling from an earlier conviction of another of its officers, Jack Teixeira, for leaking Pentagon papers is undeniable.
The Rahman leak provides a glimpse into the murky interplay of Iranian, Israeli and US spy agencies that have helped shape the current conflict and, almost as importantly, our perception of it.
In late October, Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, said it had arrested seven Israeli nationals living in occupied East Jerusalem on suspicion of carrying out espionage on Iran’s
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