Former CIA analyst Asif William Rahman has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for sharing classified U.S. defence information about Israel’s plans toward Iran. Image: Getty Images.
(The Post News)– Asif William Rahman, a former CIA analyst, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison after sharing classified information about Israel’s plans regarding Iran. The 34-year-old admitted in January to keeping and passing on national defense details, which is against U.S. law.
Officials stated that Rahman used his high-level security clearance to print and take photos of top-secret documents, which he then shared. Some of that information later appeared on social media. Last October, Israel launched air strikes on military sites across Iran. The attack was in response to a missile attack from Tehran that had happened a few weeks earlier.
John Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said in a statement that the defendant spent months violating both the trust of the American people and his official duties by disclosing highly sensitive national security information.
In October 2024, documents that seemed to come from a U.S. Department of Defense agency were shared on a Telegram channel linked to Iran. The files, marked as top secret, were intended to be seen only by members of the Five Eyes intelligence group, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
The leaked documents reportedly included the U.S. assessment of Israel’s plans before its strike on Iran, as well as the movement of military resources in the lead-up. One document also mentioned Israel’s nuclear abilities, which the country has never publicly confirmed.
Later that month, Israel went on with the air strikes, hitting military sites in different parts of Iran. The action came as a response to missiles launched by Tehran a few weeks earlier. Rahman, who had been working overseas, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia and taken to the U.S. territory of Guam to face charges.
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