Senior Israeli says 'friends don't act like this' after Mossad Head denies US claim that he opposed Iran sanctions in talk with senators.
A senior Israeli official delivered an uncommonly harsh attack on US President Barack Obama's administration Thursday evening, following the American report
that alleged that
Mossad Head Tamir Pardo had warned US senators against further Iran sanctions,
in contradiction of Israel's official stance.
"The fraudulent claims against the Mossad Head were raised by
the Americans yesterday, despite a message that had been transmitted to them on
Tuesday by Intelligence Minister [Yuval] Steintz,” the senior Israeli source
told Channel 2 news.
He added that
Israel had gone over the minutes of the meeting between Pardo and the delegation of senators, and that Pardo had not
said what was attributed to him.
"Leaking the Mossad Head's statements, even if they had not
been falsified, is a serious breach of all the rules,” the senior source added. “Friends do not behave like
this. Information from a secret meeting must not leak
out.”
Pardo denied on Thursday the report – which was carried by Bloomberg news –
claiming that the Mossad disagrees with Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about the need to press new
sanctions on Iran.
The report said that Mossad officials advised US
senators who were visiting Israel recently to hold off on further Iran
sanctions, saying that they would hamper, not help, efforts to persuade Iran to give up
or allow full international supervision of its nuclear program.
"The Head of Mossad did not say that he
opposes additional sanctions on Iran,” said the spy agency Thursday.
"Mossad Head Tamir Pardo met on January 19, 2015, with a delegation of US senators,” Mossad said in a
statement. “The meeting was held at the request of the senators and with the
prime minister's approval. At the meeting, the
Head of Mossad stressed the
extraordinary effectiveness of the sanctions that have been placed on Iran
for several years in bringing Iran to the negotiating table.”
"The Head of
Mossad noted that in negotiating with Iran, a policy of 'carrots and
sticks' must be adopted, and there are not enough 'sticks' nowadays,” it added.
Furthermore, said the agency, he “said specifically that the
agreement that is being formed with Iran is bad and could lead to a regional
arms race.”
Sources in Jerusalem told Army
Radio Thursday that the story reported in Bloomberg about
disagreement between Netanyahu and the Mossad regarding sanctions on
Iran is US President Barack Obama administration's
“revenge” for Netanyahu's invitation to address Congress.
The invitation was extended by Congress without consulting Obama.
Mossad,
in rare move, denies it contradicted Netanyahu by lobbying against stiffer Iran
sanctions
US Secretary of State John Kerry had stated
that an Israeli intelligence official said a tougher sanctions bill at this
time would be “like throwing a grenade into the process.”
In an extremely unusual step, the Mossad issued a statement Thursday denying the
intelligence agency was lobbying US lawmakers against stiffer Iran sanctionsand
saying that such legislation may lead to a collapse of talks with the Islamic
Republic.
Were
the Mossad to take that position, it would directly contradict the policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is calling for
tougher sanctions on Iran.
US
Secretary of State John Kerry, apparently referring to a briefing Pardo held
with a high-level group of seven US senators earlier this week, said that an
Israeli intelligence official said a tougher sanctions bill at this time would
be “like throwing a grenade into the process.”
According
to the Mossad statement, the agency's head Tamir Pardo met Monday, with
Netanyahu's approval, with the senate delegation and emphasized the
“exceptional effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Iran in recent years,”
noting that the sanctions are what drove Iran to the negotiation table.
Pardo
said that in talks with Iran it is is”essential” to present both carrots and
sticks, and that currently the sticks are lacking. He also said that in the
absence of strong pressure, the Iranians will not make meaningful compromises.
Regrading
the use of the phrase “throwing a grenade,” cited by Kerry, the statement
clarified that Pardo did not use that expression regarding the imposition of
sanctions, which he believes are the “sticks” necessary to reach a “good deal
with Iran.
Rather,
the statement read, Pardo used that expression “as a metaphor to describe the
possibility of creating a temporary crisis in the negotiations at the end of
which talks would resume under improved conditions.”
The
statement said Pardo made it clear that “the bad agreement taking shape with
Iran is likely to lead to a regional arms race.”
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And this is the US President we are supped to trust that he will not permit Iran getting nuclear
weapons?
