Tehran, YJC.. Israel’s spying on Iran talks has upset White House because information was used to lobby Congress to try to sink a deal.
Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered
negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House
officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks.
The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the
negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal,
current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel
acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and
diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.
The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as
Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain
support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program,
current and former officials said.
"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,” said a senior U.S. official
briefed the Wall Street Journal on the matter.
The U.S. and Israel, longtime allies who routinely swap
information on security threats, sometimes operate behind the scenes like
spy-versus-spy rivals. The White House has largely tolerated Israeli snooping
on U.S. policy makers—a posture Israel takes when the tables are turned.
The White House discovered the operation, in fact, when U.S.
intelligence agencies spying on Israel intercepted communications among Israeli
officials that carried details the U.S. believed could have come only from
access to the confidential talks, officials briefed on the matter said.
Israeli officials denied spying directly on U.S. negotiators
and said they received their information through other means, including close
surveillance of Iranian leaders receiving the latest U.S. and European offers.
European officials, particularly the French, also have been more transparent
with Israel about the closed-door discussions than the Americans, Israeli and
U.S. officials said.
Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer early this year
saw a rapidly closing window to increase pressure on Mr. Obama before a key
deadline at the end of March, Israeli officials said.
Using levers of political influence unique to Israel,
Messrs. Netanyahu and Dermer calculated that a lobbying campaign in Congress
before an announcement was made would improve the chances of killing or
reshaping any deal. They knew the intervention would damage relations with the
White House, Israeli officials said, but decided that was an acceptable cost.
The campaign may not have worked as well as hoped, Israeli
officials now say, because it ended up alienating many congressional Democrats
whose support Israel was counting on to block a deal.
Obama administration officials, departing from their usual
description of the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and Israel, have voiced
sharp criticism of Messrs. Netanyahu and Dermer to describe how the
relationship has changed.
"People feel personally sold out,” a senior administration
official said. "That’s where the Israelis really better be careful because a
lot of these people will not only be around for this administration but
possibly the next one as well.”
Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to
curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was
spying on the closed-door talks.
The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then
help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials
said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from
confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the
officials said.
The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of
inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a
high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program, current and former
officials said.
"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,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on the
matter.
The U.S. and Israel, longtime allies who routinely swap information on
security threats, sometimes operate behind the scenes like spy-versus-spy
rivals. The White House has largely tolerated Israeli snooping on U.S. policy
makers—a posture Israel takes when the tables are turned.
The White House discovered the operation, in fact, when U.S. intelligence
agencies spying on Israel intercepted communications among Israeli officials
that carried details the U.S. believed could have come only from access to the
confidential talks, officials briefed on the matter said.
Israeli officials denied spying directly on U.S. negotiators and said they
received their information through other means, including close surveillance of
Iranian leaders receiving the latest U.S. and European offers. European
officials, particularly the French, also have been more transparent with Israel
about the closed-door discussions than the Americans, Israeli and U.S.
officials said.
Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer early this year saw a
rapidly closing window to increase pressure on Mr. Obama before a key deadline
at the end of March, Israeli officials said.
Using levers of political influence unique to Israel, Messrs. Netanyahu and
Dermer calculated that a lobbying campaign in Congress before an announcement
was made would improve the chances of killing or reshaping any deal. They knew
the intervention would damage relations with the White House, Israeli officials
said, but decided that was an acceptable cost.
The campaign may not have worked as well as hoped, Israeli officials now
say, because it ended up alienating many congressional Democrats whose support
Israel was counting on to block a deal.
Obama administration officials, departing from their usual description of
the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and Israel, have voiced sharp criticism
of Messrs. Netanyahu and Dermer to describe how the relationship has changed.
"People feel personally sold out,” a senior administration official said.
"That’s where the Israelis really better be careful because a lot of these
people will not only be around for this administration but possibly the next
one as well.”
This account of the Israeli campaign is based on interviews with more than a
dozen current and former U.S. and Israeli diplomats, intelligence officials,
policy makers and lawmakers.
This account of the Israeli campaign is based on interviews
with more than a dozen current and former U.S. and Israeli diplomats, intelligence
officials, policy makers and lawmakers.