Pentagon raises Israel spy threat to highest level: NBC report

'They are exceedingly interested in what we are up to,' says think tank expert

The Pentagon has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to the highest possible level on concerns about increasingly aggressive Israeli espionage targeting US officials, NBC News reported Friday.

The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued the new assessment in recent weeks, elevating Israel's threat designation to "critical," according to two current and one former US official cited by the network.

The move stems from concerns that Israel is making a particular effort to monitor senior US officials to gain insight into the Trump administration's internal deliberations on Middle East conflicts, said officials.

Citing current officials, the report noted that the DIA assessment includes a seven-page document identifying specific incidents that heightened US concerns.

The heightened alert came as President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have clashed on the war with Iran and Israeli military operations in Lebanon, including a reported tense call this past week.

Read: Trump confirms he called Netanyahu crazy in phone call

Israel is keenly interested in whether Trump decides to resume major combat operations against Iran or pursue a negotiated end to the war, said current and former US officials and outside experts.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington denied the report, saying it is "completely false" that Israel conducts intelligence gathering on US government officials. The Pentagon declined to comment, while a White House official described the story as false.

Emily Harding, vice president of the Defence and Security Department at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, described Israel as having a "hyper-aggressive intelligence service."

"They are exceedingly interested in what we are up to," she added.