Israel denies spying on U.S., Iran nuclear talks

A senior Israeli official on Tuesday denied allegations that it spied on closed-door negotiations between the U.S. and other world powers over a nuclear deal with Iran.

"The allegations are utterly false," a senior official from the prime minister's office told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. "Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel's other allies."

The denial followed a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday that Israel acquired confidential information on the nuclear talks in order to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu build a case against the emerging deal.

Such allegations were intended "to undermine the strong ties between the United States and Israel, and the security and intelligence relationship we share," the official said.

The Wall Street Journal report said that Israel's espionage included eavesdropping, in addition to obtaining information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe.

The paper said that the espionage didn't upset the White House as much as Israel's sharing the inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others in order to hamper a deal.

"It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy," the paper quoted a senior U.S. official as saying.

The P5+1, namely the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain, plus Germany, have been negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit Iran's nuclear program.

However, hardliner Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that the potential deal "could threaten the survival of Israel," arguing that diplomatic maneuvers cannot stop Iran's alleged ambition to get nuclear bombs.

The polarized views of President Barack Obama and Netanyahu over Iran's nuclear program have soured the relations between the U.S. and Israel.

The relations between the long-time allies have been further strained recently, after Netanyahu's announced ahead of the Israeli parliamentary elections that he withdrew his support for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Following the remark, Obama told Netanyahu that the U.S. would "reassess" aspects of its relationship with Israel. Endit