Iran claims to have received confidential documents about Israel

Iran has received "sensitive" documents about Israel, including allegedly Israeli nuclear facilities, Iranian state television reported today, without explaining exactly what the documents were or how Iran obtained them.

"Iranian intelligence services have obtained a large amount of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist (Israeli) regime, including thousands of documents related to the regime's nuclear projects and facilities," Iranian television reported.

Iran, which has made support for the Palestinian cause a pillar of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, does not recognize the state of Israel.

The claims come amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program, which Israeli officials see as an existential threat.

Western countries, led by the United States and Israel, which some experts consider the only nuclear power in the Middle East, suspect that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran denies having such military ambitions, but insists on its right to civilian nuclear energy, particularly for energy, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed support for military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.

The two countries have been at a shadow war for years.

Iran regularly arrests individuals it claims are spies and has in the past accused Israel of being behind targeted assassinations or sabotage linked to its nuclear program.

Last year, tensions reached a peak when Iran twice directly attacked Israeli territory with several hundred missiles and drones.

Iranian authorities then stated that the attacks were a legitimate response to the deadly attack on its consulate in Syria, attributed to Israel.

Tehran also spoke of retaliation for the assassination of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its territory, for which Israel claimed responsibility, as well as the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, another movement allied with Iran, who was killed in an Israeli attack in Lebanon.