House Committee to Probe Reports of NSA Tapping Congress, Israeli Officials

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US House Intelligence Committee plans to look into reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on Israeli officials and members of the US Congress during the Iran nuclear talks, Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said in a statement.

"The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in The Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and Members of Congress," the statement read on Wednesday.

Nunes added the Committee had requested more information from the Intelligence Community to determine "which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules and procedures."

The investigation comes after the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Wednesday that the NSA taped conversations between Israeli and US officials to determine how to counter Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alleged efforts to prevent the nuclear agreement with Iran from being approved.

Following the reports, Senator Marco Rubio, member of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, noted it was possible the NSA spying allegations could be worse than expected.