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Israel Allegedly Spied On Iran Nuclear Negotiations In Effort To Undermine Obama

President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2013. CREDIT: AP
President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2013. CREDIT: AP

The Israeli government spied on the ongoing negotiations surrounding Iran’s nuclear program and cherry-picked details of the proposed agreement to dilute support for a deal among American lawmakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” a senior U.S. official told the paper.

The report details how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer launched a lobbying campaign to kill or reshape any possible deal that would significantly limit Iran’s disputed nuclear program, believing that President Obama was prepared to sign a bad agreement that could undermine Israeli security. The pair hosted what administration officials described as “misleading” briefings for lawmakers to discuss “the number and type of centrifuges” the United States could potentially agree to without disclosing “concessions asked of Iran,” like abandoning its stockpiles of nuclear material and modifying centrifuges.

Israeli officials denied directly spying on U.S. negotiators and claimed that they learned of the details through European allies also party to the talks and other sources. Speaking to reporters, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said he was “shocked” and “baffled” by the WSJ report. “No information was revealed to me whatsoever,” he added. Sen. Angus King (I-ME), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also described the allegation of Israel using clandestine information to influence Congress as “somewhat disturbing” during an interview on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports.

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But Obama officials have long been suspicious of Israel’s attempts to sabotage the talks and had reduced the exchange of sensitive information with their Israeli partners. They also accused the Prime Minister’s office of leaking sensitive information to the Israeli press.

During his much-publicized March 3rd address to Congress, Netanyahu called for a “better deal” with Iran and hinted that his country could take military action “alone” against Iran in protest of any negotiated agreement.

According to press accounts, the United States, Iran, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, are in fact closing the gap around an agreement that would establish a multi-year regime of strict inspections and controls on Iran’s uranium enrichment — preventing it from obtaining enough materials for weaponization. Should Iran comply, the international community would then lift economic sanctions against the country. Obama has insist that the United States would only sign off on an agreement that ensures that each pathway to a bomb is closed off.

But Israel fears that any deal with Iran — at least as it is being outlined in the press — would accept Iranian enrichment as a new reality while only delaying Iran’s capability to weaponize by a year. An agreement would also make it politically unfeasible for Israel to take military action against Iran and only postpone Iran’s ambitions. “The temptation [for Iran to create a weapon] is not now but in two or three or four years, when the West is preoccupied with other crises,” Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of intelligence, explained to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius.

On Monday, 367 House members signed a letter to Obama insisting that any deal would require Congressional approval and warning that they would not vote to roll back sanctions if the administration circumvents the legislative body. “Should an agreement with Iran be reached, permanent sanctions relief from congressionally-mandated sanctions would require new legislation,” the write. In reviewing such an agreement, Congress must be convinced that its terms foreclose any pathway to a bomb, and only then will Congress be able to consider permanent sanctions relief.”