Analyst says interest in Epstein files plummeted after war on Iran launched

Republican US Congressman Thomas Massie has said, ‘Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away.’Published On 4 Mar 2026Before the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran five days ago, the fallout from files released by the US Department of Justice on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were reverberating around the world.They ensnared a former British royal, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and the former United Kingdom Ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, with both being arrested, rocking the Keir Starmer government.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Epstein ties cast shadow over legacy of Oslo’s Palestine peace effortslist 2 of 4US and Israeli interests may soon diverge on Iranlist 3 of 4Epstein & Africa: Did sex offender push Israel-Ivory Coast security deal?list 4 of 4US Commerce Secretary Lutnick to testify before Congress about Epstein tiesend of listIsrael’s former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and numerous others have also faced intense scrutiny. Epstein’s deep links to Israel have prompted further allegations that he was an active Mossad spy.And several leading figures in the US have resigned posts over connections to the disgraced financier.US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has agreed to give testimony to lawmakers about his ties to Epstein, the head of a committee investigating the late sex offender has said Tuesday.Last week, Bill Clinton told lawmakers he “saw nothing that gave me pause” when he spent time with Epstein, as the former president gave closed-door testimonyHis wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, testified before the same panel the day before.But all those reverberations and revelations have sharply shifted once the bombs started raining down on Iran.On Sunday, Republican US Congressman Thomas Massie, who helped push the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act through Congress last year, said, “Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away.” He has also been critical of the war.Shifting attention off the Epstein filesAl Jazeera spoke to Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, an analyst with Atlas Global Strategies and a former Israeli diplomat, about the motives for the attack on Iran.