WASHINGTON – A Pentagon Iran analyst, Lawrence Franklin, who for months has been suspected of leaking government secrets, turned himself in to the FBI yesterday after the bureau formally charged him with four counts of mishandling classified information.

A 10-page affidavit by FBI Special Agent Catherine Hanna charges that Mr. Franklin shared classified information with people who were not authorized to receive it, and that he stored classified material in his home. If convicted, Mr. Franklin, 58, could serve up to 10 years in prison.

The affidavit, released yesterday, said Mr. Franklin stored 83 separate classified documents in his Kearneysville, W.Va., home, even though his residence was not authorized for such storage. In addition, the FBI charged that Mr. Franklin passed classified material to members of the press, a foreign government official, and two Americans who are widely believed to be analysts for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The two analysts, frequently identified as Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, have also been targets of an FBI probe. Last month, Aipac formally terminated their employment.

The initial charges fall far short of espionage and treason, as early press accounts suggested when the story broke in August. Instead, all four counts against Mr. Franklin fall under the portion of the criminal code that deals with the “gathering, transmitting or losing of defense information.” The FBI did not charge Mr. Franklin under section 794 of the code, which specifically bars “gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government.”

Mr. Franklin’s lawyer, John Richards, told the Associated Press that his client will likely plead innocent. A preliminary hearing was set for May 27.

The affidavit says Mr. Franklin had lunch with the two Aipac analysts, called U.S. persons 1 and 2, in an Arlington, Va., restaurant on June 26, 2003.

“At that lunch, Franklin verbally disclosed to USPERS 1 and 2 specific US government information. The information related to potential attacks upon United States forces in Iraq. Franklin then told them that the information was ‘highly classified’ and asked them not to ‘use’ it,” the affidavit says. It goes on to say that the top-secret material had to do with “potential attacks on United States forces in Iraq.”

Ms. Hanna said the information Mr. Franklin disclosed “could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign country.”

While AIPAC openly says it lobbies to advance America’s relationship with Israel, the organization is not considered a foreign agent, and Messrs. Rosen and Weissman are American citizens.

The FBI has twice raided the AIPAC offices here to collect hard drives and other materials related to the investigation. Sources familiar with the investigation also say Mr. Franklin and Messrs. Rosen and Weissman have been offered deals by the FBI in exchange for an admission of guilt. These sources say the deals were rejected.

Nonetheless, the recent scrutiny of the lobbying group has not seemed to dampen its relationship with the Bush administration or Congress. Among the confirmed speakers at the organization’s policy conference this month are Secretary of State Rice and Senator Clinton, a Democrat from New York.

A former executive director of AIPAC, Morris Amitay, said yesterday, “To my mind, if this is the only violation, AIPAC should not be implicated in any way. People in the media talk to people with classified information every day. How is this any different?”

Mr. Franklin, according to his former Pentagon colleagues and administration officials, believed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard battalions were targeting American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On policy matters, Mr. Franklin favored cutting ties with Iranian-sponsored political parties in Iraq, a position that put him in the minority within the Bush administration. The White House, for example, praised the Iraqi elections in January that brought to power two parties – Al-Dawa and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq – that have been financed and armed over the years by Iran.

Mr. Franklin was also one of the administration’s interlocutors with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian businessman and arms merchant whose name graced the headlines during the Iran-Contra affair. Mr. Franklin, according to sources familiar with the meeting, believed Mr. Ghorbanifar had valuable leads the CIA should follow up on regarding plots to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan.

On May 2, a former senior Mossad official, Uzi Arad, told Israeli television that he had been questioned by the FBI in connection with the Franklin investigation. According to the AP, Mr. Arad said the bureau “wanted to clear up a number of questions. I was traveling through the U.S., and I agreed to come and talk to them.”

Both AIPAC and the Israeli government have denied any wrongdoing in the case.