TEHERAN - Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib announced on Sunday the country had obtained a "precious trove" of Israel's strategic, operational, and scientific data and documents, which he said would be published soon.

In an interview with Iran's state-run IRIB news agency, Khatib described the acquisition as a "great intelligence achievement" of his ministry.

Khatib said the documents cover Israel's nuclear program as well as its relations with the United States, Europe, and other countries, stressing that some of the intelligence files could bolster Iran's offensive capabilities.

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He refrained from elaborating on the methods used to transfer the documents to Iran, saying the methods were as important as the documents themselves and would remain protected.

Khatib added that a "complicated, large-scale, comprehensive, and lengthy" operation was designed and carried out to procure them, which began with infiltration.

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In a report on Saturday, IRIB said a period of media silence was necessary to ensure the safe transfer of the documents. It noted that the volume of data was so large that it took several weeks to review.