Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Wednesday claimed that a report that the US government has continued to spy on some leaders of allied nations "might be worse" than the story suggests.

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that the National Security Agency continued to eavesdrop on friendly heads of state even after President Barack Obama pledged to curtail the activity.

According to former and current US officials who spoke to the newspaper, the NSA spied on Israeli officials and members of US Congress during the Iran nuclear talks this year.

Senator Rubio, appearing on television show "Fox & Friends" ahead of a campaign event in Iowa, claimed that the full picture "might be worse," saying that he did not think the report "gets the entire story."

"Well, I want to be very careful. I'm on, a member of the [Senate] Intelligence Committee, so obviously I want to be very careful of what I say about information of this kind. Obviously people read this report, they have a right to be concerned this morning about it," he said.

"They have a right to be concerned about the fact that while some leaders around the world are no longer being targeted, one of our strongest allies in the Middle East – Israel – is," he continued. "These are all concerns, and they're legitimate."
By Sputnik