JERUSALEM, July 3 -- For three weeks, he was a name no one was allowed to know. A 20-year-old American citizen, arrested in Jerusalem on June 9 by a joint team of Israel Police officers and Shin Bet agents, spent nearly a month in custody before Israeli authorities lifted enough of a gag order on Tuesday to acknowledge the arrest publicly. His identity remains sealed. What is now on record is the allegation: that he photographed sensitive Israeli sites for Iranian intelligence handlers, earning payments of tens to hundreds of dollars per assignment, in what prosecutors say was an active espionage relationship conducted over several months.

The arrest was carried out by the Jerusalem District Police's Major Crimes Unit working alongside t...