say he should be released due to poor health and harsh penalty

The Obama administration is preparing to release Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence officer convicted of spying for Israel in 1985 and sentenced to life in federal prison two years later.

The release would end a decades-long fight between Israel and the US over Pollard, 60, and some US officials hope the move will smooth relations with Israel following the Iran nuclear deal.

Any ruling about Pollard, who pleaded guilty, would be made by the US Parole Commission.

The Obama administration could release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard (seen in 1998) from federal prison

The former US Navy intelligence officer was convicted of spying for Israel in 1985 and sentenced to life

Pollard's supporters say he is being punished far too harshly since Israel is a United States ally

Some US officials are pushing for Pollard's release in a matter of weeks, while others expect it could take months, possibly until his parole consideration date in November, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Texas native, 60, had turned over more than 800 highly classified documents when he pleaded guilty

The Texas native had turned over more than 800 highly classified documents and 1,500 current intelligence summary messages by the time he was caught, according to USA Today.

He was arrested outside the Israeli Embassy after failing to get political asylum.

When he was arrested, the Stanford graduate was working as analyst for the Navy's Anti-terrorist Alert Center and his wife at the time, Anne Henderson Pollard, was also sentenced to prison.

A US official said she was not aware that Pollard would be released before he is eligible for parole in November.

He had a parole hearing earlier this month.

President Obama told an Israeli interviewer last year: 'I have no plans for releasing Jonathan Pollard immediately but what I am going to be doing is to make sure that he, like every other American who's been sentenced, is accorded the same kinds of review and the same examination of the equities that any other individual would provide.'

Some US officials hope Pollard's release will smooth relations with Israel following the Iran nuclear deal

Pollard, is currently serving his time in a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina (seen above)

Pollard's supporters say he is being punished far too harshly since Israel is a US ally and that much of the classified information he passed on caused no damage to the United States and that it was intelligence that Israel previously had access to.

His supporters also say he should be released because of his poor health, with his attorney saying he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has personally pressed for years to get the United States to release Pollard, who is currently serving time in a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said it was 'highly inhuman and unjust' to hold Pollard for so long and that he found out about the impending release from Senator Ted Cruz, The Hill reported.

'I was told that Sen Cruz had met with the Justice Department and other representatives from other branches of government and they said that he was going to be paroled in November,' Boteach said.