Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib is claiming Tehran has acquired a "treasure trove" of sensitive Israeli documents, including information on Israel's secret (but long not-so-secret) nuclear weapons program, as well as apparent evidence of US and European knowledge and support.

"The transfer of this treasure trove was time-consuming and required security measures. Naturally, the transfer methods will remain confidential, but the documents should be unveiled soon," Khatib said. He vowed to make them public, at which point this could force either an Israeli or US official statement.

Iranian state TV unveiled the alleged clandestine operation on Saturday, though no evidence was provided. Additionally, Israel has yet to acknowledge anything regarding theft of its files, which may have occurred through a cyber-breach.

The Associated Press reporting on Khatib's words strongly points to cyber espionage, given the US-sanctioned intelligence chief's background:

Khatib said members of the Intelligence Ministry “achieved an important treasury of strategic, operational and scientific intelligence of the Zionist regime and it was transferred into the country with God’s help.”

He claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained and insisted they would be made public soon. Among them were documents related to the U.S., Europe and other countries, he claimed, obtained through “infiltration” and “access to the sources.”

He did not elaborate on the methods used. However, Khatib, a Shiite cleric, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 over directing “cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran’s political goals.”

Israel has for decades had an undeclared nuclear weapons program, which the United States has never formally acknowledged, also with the State Department consistently refusing to answer questions on it.

The nuclear arsenal is commonly estimated to be somewhere in the range of 90 to 300 warheads, and it being undeclared means it remains completely outside international oversight.

Regional Muslim-majority nations have long called out Western hypocrisy on the issue. Iran's nuclear energy program has been tightly monitored under the prior Obama JCPOA nuclear deal, and current talks with Washington aim to reestablish a similar monitoring regimen. Certainly Tehran will attempt to leverage these alleged documents as it deals with Washington on the issue.

The US has also fought entire wars on the basis that an Arab regime might have WMD (weapons of mass destruction) - with Iraq and Libya being notable cases. Gaddafi was convinced by the Bush administration to 'come in from the cold' and give up any nuclear or chemical weapons aspirations, only to be overthrown by NATO-backed and al-Qaeda linked rebels a decade later, with the help of US, French, and UK warplanes.