Israel denies spying on US nuclear talks with Iran

Jerusalem, March 25 (IANS/EFE) The Israeli Government has denied that it spied on the closed-door nuclear negotiations that took place between Iran and Western powers, as revealed by US newspaper, citing official sources from the White House.

In an interview with Israel's Army Radio, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday underlined that the report released by the US publisher is "wrong" and "inaccurate."

"Obviously Israel has different security interests than the US and we have a good Intelligence Service," Lieberman added, stressing at the same time that Israel does not "deal in espionage against the US."

Also, an official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus' office denied the accusations made by the US newspaper that Israel has engaged in espionage against its US ally or any other allies, considering that these allegations are false and are clearly designed to undermine the strong ties between the US and Israel and their bilateral cooperation regarding exchanging information of security related threats.

"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," the publisher cited former and current US government officials.

"In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential US briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe," the officials added.

The Wall Street Journal has underlined that both the US and Israel, longtime allies who routinely swap information on security threats, "sometimes operate behind the scenes like spy-versus-spy rivals."

"The White House discovered the operation, in fact, when US intelligence agencies spying on Israel intercepted communications among Israeli officials that carried details the US believed could have come only from access to the confidential talks," the US newspaper quoted officials briefed on the matter.

Israel firmly opposed to the agreement that the Western powers are trying to form with Iran in resolving disputes concerning its nuclear programme, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a "very bad deal."

Netanyahu, who won the Israeli general elections last week, even confronted the Democrat US President Barack Obama during his visit to the US Congress, at the invitation of Republican members, on March 4, 2015, declaring his objection to the agreement that Washington is negotiating with Iran.

--IANS/EFE

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