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Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israel spying to ‘critical’

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Department reports raise concerns about increased espionage activity amid US-Israeli war with Iran, ceasefire talks.

The Pentagon’s intelligence arm has raised the assessed threat level on Israeli spying from “high” to “critical” in recent weeks, according to US media.

NBC News first broke news of the change on Friday, with The New York Times issuing its own report the following day.

The news outlets cited anonymous sources as saying the switch came in light of concerns over increasingly aggressive tactics related to the US-Israeli war with Iran.

They said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had raised the alert level amid fears that Israel is increasingly attempting to surveil top US officials. The aim is allegedly to understand internal White House deliberations about ending the war.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu have publicly diverged in their approach to the war, which the US and Israel started on February 28.

Trump, on one hand, has repeatedly said he wants to bring the war to a close, amid mounting political pressure at home.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, has called for war to resume, despite an April 8 ceasefire. The fighting has been mostly paused since the temporary truce was announced, but efforts to reach a lasting agreement have repeatedly stalled.

The New York Times reported that, while Israel has been known to spy on the US, the DIA cited an uptick in activities beginning in late 2024, as the administration of US President Joe Biden increased pressure on Israel over its genocidal war in Gaza.

That increase continued into 2025, as Trump returned to the presidency and began deliberating about how to approach Iran.

The newspaper added that other recent intelligence assessments have also documented evidence that there are Israeli efforts to monitor Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff as well as Elbridge Colby, a top policy official at the Pentagon, and his deputy Michael DiMino IV.

Witkoff had been the lead negotiator in nuclear talks that preceded the initial US-Israeli attack on Iran in February.

Both NBC News and The New York Times cited unnamed US officials in their reports. The US Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera.

However, an unnamed spokesperson told both news organisations that the reports were “false”.

Still, the reported concerns are likely to raise questions over the close intelligence and military coordination between Israel and the US.

Washington has, for years, provided billions in military aid and weapons sales to Israel, including throughout the genocide in Gaza.

The US Congress is also currently debating a section of a new defence bill, which would integrate the two countries’ research and development for weaponry to an unprecedented degree.

While the US and its allies are known to regularly conduct intelligence operations on each other, officials told both NBC and The New York Times that Israel’s recent vigour was unique.

The New York Times reported that the increased DIA designation surpasses all current allies, as well as a handful of countries with more fraught relations.

Recent incidents included Israel’s military intelligence trying to plant listening devices at the DIA headquarters in 2021, according to the newspaper.

In 2025, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, was found to have tried to plant a similar device in a Secret Service vehicle, the report said.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/6/pentagon-said-to-raise-threat-level-on-israel-spying-to-critical?traffic_source=rss

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Iran fires missiles at Israel after Beirut attack ‘crossed all red lines’

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Iran’s IRGC says the barrage of missiles is ‘a warning’ to Israel amid its ongoing siege of Lebanon.

Iran fires missiles at Israel after it attacked Beirut

Iran has launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel, after warnings from Tehran that Israel must halt its ongoing assault on southern Lebanon or face more attacks.

Multiple rounds of strikes targeted Israel starting at about 10pm local time (19:00 GMT) on Sunday, triggering sirens in locations across the country, the Israeli army said in a series of Telegram posts.

The army said it “intercepted all missiles from Iran thus far”, with the Home Front Command advising residents they could leave protected spaces about an hour later.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it targeted Israel’s Ramat David airbase with ballistic missiles in a statement circulated by Iranian media, calling the attack a response to “the widespread killing and displacement of the oppressed people of the Tyre and Nabatieh regions” of southern Lebanon.

“Tonight’s operation was a warning, and if the aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader and will encompass all American-Zionist targets in the region,” the IRGC statement said.

Shortly after the launches began, Mohsen Rezaee, the military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote on X that Iran “repeatedly stated that it will not tolerate violations of the ceasefire and aggression against Lebanon”.

“Tonight, the aggressors received their response,” he said. “This response is a warning to stop their evil; any new action will be met with a more crushing response and heavier costs.”

US President Donald Trump said he was going to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “right now” to tell him not to hit back at Iran.

Speaking to Channel 12’s Barak Ravid, Trump said: “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. Hopefully, Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back, it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years.”

Trump added, “We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.

“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”

“I don’t want to see an additional attack tonight,” Trump reportedly added.

Ravid suggested it is “not clear” that the US would support Israel if it decides to attack Iran. Decision-makers will need to think twice before doing so, Ravid added, noting that a senior US official has told him that “we’re not in this” – in apparent reference to a new escalation.

Channel 12 notes that Israeli officials said earlier on Sunday they were indeed planning a “forceful response”.

The strikes followed multiple Iranian warnings over Israel’s ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon, which has continued apace despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing to a ceasefire earlier this week in Washington, DC.

Israel crossed “all red lines” by continuing to target the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters said in a statement on Sunday.

“We had previously warned that if the crime in the suburbs of Beirut spreads, we will attack targets in the occupied territories,” it said.

Khatam al-Anbiya added that if Israel “expands its attacks on that region or responds to Iran’s actions, it will face more crushing and regrettable blows and destructive attacks will begin against the regime and its supporters”.

Israel’s latest wave of strikes on Dahiyeh killed at least two people and injured 11 more in a densely populated civilian neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon.

Netanyahu ⁠and ⁠Defence Minister Israel Katz said in ‌a joint statement that the army hit a Hezbollah command centre.

Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran would “not only halt the path of negotiations”, but also come “in direct confrontation with the enemy” over violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon since March 2.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/7/iran-fires-missiles-at-israel-after-beirut-attack-crossed-all-red-lines?traffic_source=rss

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Celebrations seen in Tehran as missiles fly overhead towards Israel

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Celebrations seen in Tehran as missiles fly overhead towards Israel

Iranian state TV broadcast scenes of celebration in Tehran as missiles flew overhead en route to Israel. Iran says the launch was retaliation for Israel’s earlier attack in Beirut, and other US-Israeli ceasefire breaches.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/6/7/celebrations-seen-in-tehran-as-missiles-fly-overhead-towards-israel?traffic_source=rss

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Videos show missiles launched from Iran into Israel

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Iranian media has released video showing missiles being launched towards Israel, while videos captured incoming missiles making impact in northern Israel. Iran says it’s a response to Israel attacking Beirut in violation of a US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/6/7/videos-show-missiles-launched-from-iran-into-israel?traffic_source=rss

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