Israel is denouncing U.S. claims that the director of Israeli intelligence opposes more sanctions on Iran, calling the allegations White House "revenge" over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to address the U.S. Congress on the threat from Iran's nuclear program.
Israel's Mossad secret service
denied a report from the Bloomberg news service that quoted sources saying that Mossad chief Tamir Pardo urged a visiting U.S. Senate delegation to hold off on stronger sanctions while President Obama and other world leaders are engaged in nuclear talks with Iran.
"The head of Mossad did not say that he opposes additional sanctions on Iran," the spy agency said Thursday, adding that Pardo told the U.S. lawmakers negotiating with Iran requires "a policy of 'carrots and sticks' …, and there are not enough 'sticks' nowadays."
A senior Israeli official denounced the "fraudulent claims" that
Bloomberg reported Wednesday and complained that someone on the visiting Senate delegation leaked details about what he called a "secret meeting," according to Israel's Arutz Sheva news.
"Leaking the Mossad head's statements, even if they had not been falsified, is a serious breach of all the rules," the unidentified source added. "Friends do not behave like this. Information from a secret meeting must not leak out."
Israel officials also
told Israel's Army Radio that the Bloomberg report is part of the "Obama administration's revenge" over Netanyahu's decision to accept an invitation from House Speaker John Boehner to address a joint session of Congress over Iran's negotiations with the United States and five other world powers.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, a political ally of Netanyahu, noted the "tremendous tension between" the Republican-led Congress and Obama, especially over the Iran negotiations.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Obama threatened to veto any sanction bill Congress might pass. The White House insists that such a measure would cause the collapse of the talks with Iran.
However congressional criticism is growing among Republicans and some Democrats who fear the Obama administration is negotiating a deal that could be too weak and allow Iran to continue to work on its suspected nuclear-weapons program.
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