Man charged in US with leaking secret documents about Israeli attack on Iran | News

Asif William Rahman was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia this week and was scheduled to appear in court in Guam.

A man who worked for the U.S. government abroad has been accused of leaking classified information ahead of Israel's planned missile strike on Iran last month, according to media reports citing court documents.

The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia this week and was scheduled to appear in court for the first time in Guam, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Rahman was charged last week in a US court in Virginia with two counts of disclosing national defense information under the Espionage Act and could face a lengthy prison sentence.

The New York Times reported that Rahman was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A CIA spokesman declined to comment to Al Jazeera.

The leaked documents were created by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGIA), which analyzes images and information collected by US spy satellites, the newspaper reported.

The NGIA supports secret US military operations.

The documents appeared last month on a channel on the messaging app Telegram. The documents noted that Israel was still moving military assets into place to carry out a military strike in response to Iran's devastating missile attack on October 1.

Israel carried out a retaliatory attack on several locations in Iran in late October.

After the attack, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned Israel and the United States of a “devastating response” to action against Iran and its allies, according to state media.