US told France about secret Iran talks months before it told Israel

France was notified of the secret talks being held between Iranian and US officials as soon as they began several months ago, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday, indicating that Washington had apprised his country of the back channel long before Israel was told of the talks.

In an interview with French radio station “France Culture,” Fabius said that US Secretary of State John Kerry had personally informed the Foreign Ministry of the talks, which he maintained had commenced following the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in June, AFP reported.

Recent reports indicate that Israel was given official word of the talks only in September, although Israeli officials maintain that they were aware of the secret talks’ existence long before then.

President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, defended the secretive approach in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 news on Tuesday night. He said the Obama administration had always made clear it was prepared to engage in a constructive bilateral dialogue with Iran, and had promised to update its allies if and when something substantive emerged from any such contacts.

Relating to meetings with the Iranians that “became substantive” in August and September, Rhodes said Obama promptly updated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they met at the White House in late September.

Fabius also said that the covert negotiation channel had been instrumental in paving the way for an initial interim agreement draft, which was presented during Iran and the P5+1 world powers’ recent round of talks in Geneva.

On Sunday, the P5+1 signed a six-month deal with Iran to regulate its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions on the regime. The Geneva deal provides Iran with about $7 billion in relief from sanctions if the Islamic Republic keeps its promise to limit nuclear enrichment, freeze certain plants and agree to more intensive international oversight of its facilities.

The Associated Press reported that the United States and Iran had been secretly engaging in a series of high-level talks over the past year, led by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Jake Sullivan, Vice President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser.

According to the AP, at least five secret meetings between top Obama administration officials and Iranian representatives had taken place since March, before the Geneva agreement.

Israel has acknowledged that it was updated on the covert discussions during Netanyahu’s latest visit to the White House two months ago.

Israeli intelligence services were reportedly aware of Obama’s outreach to Tehran and said — contrary to Washington’s claims that talks only began with the election of Hassan Rouhani to the Iranian presidency in June — that the convert channel was launched as long as a year ago.

On Sunday, following the news that a deal had been struck in Geneva, Obama called Netanyahu and told him that the US would remain committed to Israel and its safety. The president added that the US would not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon under any circumstances, and would confer with Israel about future negotiations with Tehran over a final agreement.

The White House on Sunday said that Netanyahu and Obama “reaffirmed their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” and Obama told Netanyahu that he wants the two sides “to begin consultations immediately regarding our efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution.”

Obama also asked Netanyahu not to lobby allies in Congress to push legislation for more sanctions on Iran, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported.

Netanyahu, who slammed Sunday’s interim deal as a “historic mistake,” announced on Monday that he was dispatching his national security adviser to Washington to discuss the particulars of a permanent agreement with Iran.

A permanent deal, Netanyahu said, must ensure “the dismantling of Iran’s military nuclear capability.”

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report