Mossad Urges U.S. Lawmakers To Oppose Iran Sanctions

By JTA January 22, 2015

The Israeli Mossad intelligence agency has reportedly urged United States senators to vote against placing additional sanctions on Iran.

According to a report in Bloomberg View Thursday, Mossad officials oppose a U.S. Senate bill that would place additional sanctions on Iran, should U.S.-led talks on ending the Iranian nuclear program fail. The Mossad reportedly believes the bill would collapse the ongoing negotiations and damage Israeli interests.

That stance runs against the view of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who favors added sanctions. President Obama opposes the sanctions bill, and said in his State of the Union address Tuesday that he would veto it.

According to the report, Secretary of State John Kerry and Senator John Barrasso (R-Wy.) have both alluded recently to Mossad opposition to the bill.

“We met with a number of government officials from many different parts of the [Israeli] government,” Barrasso told Bloomberg View. “There’s not a uniform view there.”

Bloomberg View reported that another Senate bill, which would give the Senate a vote on any accord with Iran over its nuclear program, has broader approval from Israeli officials.

Negotiations over the nuclear program are slated to resume in February. On Wednesday, Netanyahu accepted an invitation from Speaker of the House John Boehner to address a joint session of Congress in February regarding Iran.

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