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A US defence contractor has abandoned talks to Ìýdespite backing from US intelligence officials for the purchase, according to reports on Sunday.

American intelligence officials quietly supported defence firm L3 Harris' plansÌýto acquire NSO,Ìýthe New York Times , citing five people familiar with the negotiations – despite the Biden administration's blacklisting of the Israeli company a few months ago.

±á´Ç·É±ð±¹±ð°ù,ÌýThe Guardian thatÌýa US official appeared to question news of the intelligence officials' backing, saying: "We are unaware of any indications of support or involvement from anyone in a decision-making, policymaking or senior role."

The NSO Group, which is regulated by Israel's defence ministry,Ìýshot to global recognition last year when human rights organisations and investigative journalists exposed how governments,Ìý, were using its surveillance technology to track activists, dissidents and political rivals, among others.

NSO's supply of spyware to governments to be used "maliciously" on targets saw itÌýÌýto the US' Entity List in November – so any deal with a US contractorÌýwould have to be approved by Washington.

The Guardian, the Washington Post and Haaretz jointly last month that L3 Harris, whichÌýsells surveillance tools to the US government and clients including the FBI and NATO,Ìýwas in talks to acquire the Pegasus spyware and absorb some NSO staff.

A White House official told the news outlets at the time that any purchase would "raiseÌýserious counterintelligence and security concerns for the US government."

L3 Harris informed the US government it was no longer pursuing the acquisition shortly after media reports about the administration'sÌýdisapproval of the talksÌýsurfaced last month, a US officialÌýtold NYT.

Once L3 Harris understood the level of "definitive pushback", a person familiar with the talks told The GuardianÌý"there was a view [in L3 Harris] that there was no way L3 was moving forward with this".