US to keep briefing Israel on Iran talks amid spying row

The US administration will continue to brief Israel on its secret nuclear negotiations with Iran, US officials say, despite allegations the Jewish state has been spying on the talks.

“We’ve spoken in the past to our concern … about leaks of certain sensitive information. And obviously, we’ve taken steps to ensure that the negotiations remain private,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says.

But she refuses to either confirm or deny a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous US officials accusing Israel of spying on the nuclear negotiations with Iran aimed at reaching a deal that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vociferously opposes.

“We still have ongoing conversations that are continuing with Israel,” Psaki says, adding the Obama administration will continue to brief Israeli officials in private.

Current and former US officials quoted in the Journal said they believed Israel had passed on the information to US lawmakers aiming to undermine support for the emerging deal, which has been championed by the White House.

But Psaki says it was an “absurd notion that Congress would have to rely on any foreign government to gain insight into the nuclear negotiations with Iran.”

— AFP