The New York Times ran a story on Nov. 3 reporting that Israel has shared intelligence with the United States according to which Iran is considering the use of chemical weapons against its adversaries, though, says the Times, “Some American officials see the Israeli intelligence as part of a pressure campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to persuade the Trump administration to return to major combat operations against Iran.”

Israel has also shared its purported intelligence with officials in Gulf countries, but several of them “doubted that Iran was developing plans to use chemical weapons and believe Israel is trying to push the United States and its partners to return to a more intense phase of the war.” The Times story notes later that Israeli officials did not share evidence but briefed the officials on their assessments, which the official said Gulf governments “found unserious.”

The U.S. has apparently been asserting for years that Iran has been working on chemical weapons but that the status of their programs, if any, has not been clear. The U.S. Director of National Intelligence warned in 2024 that “Iran probably aims to continue research and development of chemical and biological agents for offensive purposes.”