The Israeli government spied on the multilateral nuclear negotiations with Iran, sharing the information with U.S. lawmakers and other groups in an attempt to undercut any chance of an agreement, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
{mosads}“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 newspaper.
The Israeli government reportedly spied on the negotiations between Iran and the United States, France, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany, a group known as the P5+1. The country also culled information from confidential U.S. briefings and informants in Europe, according to the Journal.
American intelligence reportedly uncovered the intrusion, after it captured conversations between Israeli officials that included details that the U.S. determined could only have come from spying on those secret negotiations. But the Israelis have denied spying directly on their American allies, instead asserting they spied on Iranian negotiators that received draft agreements from the P5+1.
Israeli officials questioned the spying program’s efficacy, according to the report, as it drove a wedge between the Israeli government and congressional Democrats.
“People feel personally sold out,” a senior administration official told the Journal.
“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.”