Jerusalem : A senior Israeli official on Tuesday denied allegations that it spied on closed-door negotiations between the US and other world powers over a nuclear deal with Iran.
“The allegations are utterly false,” a senior official from the prime minister’s office told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity. “Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel’s other allies.”
The denial followed a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday that Israel acquired confidential information on the nuclear talks in order to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu build a case against the emerging deal.
Such allegations were intended “to undermine the strong ties between the United States and Israel, and the security and intelligence relationship we share”, the official said.
The Wall Street Journal report said that Israel’s espionage included eavesdropping, in addition to obtaining information from confidential US briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe.
The paper said that the espionage did not upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing the inside information with US lawmakers and others in order to hamper a deal.
“It is one thing for the US and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal US secrets and play them back to US legislators to undermine US diplomacy,” the paper quoted a senior U.S. official as saying.
The P5+1 group of world powers, namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, plus Germany, have been negotiating for a deal with Tehran to limit Iran’s nuclear programme.
However, hardliner Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that the potential deal “could threaten the survival of Israel”, arguing that diplomatic manoeuvres cannot stop Iran’s alleged ambition to get nuclear bombs.
The polarised views of President Barack Obama and Netanyahu over Iran’s nuclear programme have soured relations between the US and Israel.
The relations between the long-time allies have been further strained recently, after Netanyahu’s announced ahead of the Israeli parliamentary elections that he withdrew his support for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Following the remark, Obama told Netanyahu that the US would “reassess” aspects of its relationship with Israel.