State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki slammed allegations that the Obama Administration does not update lawmakers on its nuclear negotiations with Iran.
A story published late Monday in the Wall Street Journal quoted anonymous US officials who revealed that Israeli spying on the P5+1 talks produced information that was then passed on to the US Congress, in an effort to thwart a deal. "Without giving any merit to the claims in the story, I do want to be clear it's an absurd notion that Congress would have to rely on any foreign government to gain insight into the nuclear negotiations with Iran," Psaki said, in a statement late on Tuesday.
"We have briefed Congress on the nuclear talks as much or perhaps more than any other issue," she continued. "Since October of 2013, we have conducted more than 230 meetings, hearings and calls with Senate and House members and their staffs on Iran. More than 60 of these engagements have taken place in the last four weeks. And we even offered to brief [Capitol] Hill this week." As for the spying by the Israelis - which was uncovered when the US spied on the Israelis spying on them, according to the WSJ story - Psaki said she is "not going to comment on intelligence matters, whether that's ours or any other country's." "I can say that we continue, and we will continue, our close military intelligence and security cooperation with Israel. That has not changed," she affirmed.
"There are areas where we have had disagreements as it relates to how we can prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. But Israel is an important partner, a strategic and security partner, and we've continued our consultations," Psaki reiterated.
"Preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is not only in our interest, it's in the interest of the international community, and that's why we're pursuing it," she concluded.