The Pentagon has raised the counter-espionage threat level concerning Israel to its highest level, several US media outlets reported Saturday.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the military intelligence agency of the Ministry of Defense, stated that "Israel's capability to conduct human espionage and technical collection operations is at a 'critical level'," NBC News reported, citing U.S. officials.

This decision follows concerns that Israel attempted to spy on senior US officials to gain insight into "internal deliberations and decision-making within the Trump administration regarding conflicts in the Middle East," the US television network reported.

For its part, the New York Times reported on Israeli attempts to wiretap senior officials, including President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, and the Pentagon’s top political official, Elbridge Colby.

The United States and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on February 28, triggering the war.

Since then, the relationship between Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be strained.

Mr. Trump had a heated exchange, full of insults, during a telephone conversation with Mr. Netanyahu, in which he reportedly said that his interlocutor was "completely crazy", according to the media outlet Axios.

The two men were discussing Israel's threats to bomb the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with Donald Trump fearing that this could undermine US talks with Tehran.

In an interview with the New York Post, Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he had a heated exchange with Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that he was unhappy with Israeli policy in Lebanon.