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The FBI on Tuesday said it is investigating the alleged leak of classified US intelligence documents describing Israel's preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran.
Iran has been bracing for a response after it fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of Tehran-backed senior figures in Hamas and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The classified documents, circulated on the Telegram app last week by an account called Middle East Spectator, describe Israeli preparations for a possible strike – but do not identify any targets.
“The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with our partners in the Department of Defence and intelligence community,” the agency said in a statement.
Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder said a Defence Department official who had been identified on social media appears not to have been involved in the leak.
“This investigation is in its first few days, and it's important to let the investigation run its course,” Maj Gen Ryder told reporters. “To my knowledge, this official is not a subject of interest.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that US authorities were unaware if the documents had been leaked or hacked.
“We're not exactly sure how these documents found their way into the public domain,” Mr Kirby said, adding that such a leak would be “unacceptable”.
The documents were reportedly prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and detail US assessments of Israeli Air Force and Navy operations, based on satellite imagery from October 15 to 16.
US President Joe Biden had indicated last week that his administration knew about Israel's plans. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seized on the apparent leak on Tuesday, portraying it as an example of government incompetence.
“They leaked all the information about the way that Israel is going to fight, and how they're going to fight, and where they're going to go,” the former US president said, exaggerating the content of the classified material.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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