The Pentagon in recent weeks raised the counterintelligence threat level from Israel to its highest designation, “critical,” amid growing tensions between the US and Israel over the direction of the wars in Iran and Lebanon, NBC reported Saturday citing current and former US officials.

The officials said the new designation stems from heightened concerns in the Pentagon that Israel is spying on top US officials in a bid to gather information on internal US deliberations about the regional conflicts.

According to the report, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency raised the level for Israel in recent weeks to “critical” in an internal message.

One of the current US officials was cited as saying the Pentagon’s assessment includes a seven-page document that describes a series specific incidents that raised US concern.

Officials told the network that Israeli intelligence-gathering efforts were viewed as exceeding the level of espionage normally expected between allied nations, though they said it was unclear whether any single incident prompted the threat-level increase.

The White House and Israel’s embassy in the US both vehemently denied the NBC report, while the Pentagon declined to comment, the network said.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, said in a statement to NBC that it is “completely false” that Israel spies on the US.

“Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials,” the spokesperson said. “Israel’s intelligence collection efforts are aimed at its enemies, not its........

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