White House: Israel leaks inaccurate info about Iran talks

The Obama administration says Israel is issuing inaccurate information about America’s position in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

“There's no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate. There's no question about that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday.

Earnest accused Israel of "cherry-picking" intelligence information that distorts the US position.

"We've also been very clear about the fact that the United States is not going to be in a position of negotiating this agreement in public, particularly when we see that there is a continued practice of cherry-picking specific pieces of information and using them out of context to distort the negotiating position of the United States,” he said.

Iran and the P5+1 states - the US, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - are in talks to narrow their differences and pave the way for a final, long-term accord aimed at putting an end to the 12-year-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some other officials from his regime have accused the Obama administration of trying to strike a “bad deal” with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.   

The already tense relations between the White House and the Netanyahu regime began to unravel on January 21 when US House Speaker John Boehner invited the Israeli premier to address a joint session of Congress about the alleged threat of Iran’s nuclear program.

The invitation was extended last month hours after Obama threatened to veto any sanctions legislation against Iran.

Netanyahu’s speech to Congress is scheduled for March 3. The White House has denounced the speech as a “breach of protocol” that could derail the nuclear talks with Iran.

Israeli officials believe the Obama administration is reducing communications with Israel because of Netanyahu’s speech.

According to a report by Israel's Channel 2, Washington has stopped updating Tel Aviv about developments in nuclear negotiations between the P5+1 group of countries and Iran.

The channel reported on Sunday that the Obama administration made the move in response to Netanyahu's decision to accept the invitation to address Congress without coordinating with the White House.

But on Wednesday, Earnest said, the United States has “a clear stake” in the outcome of the nuclear talks, “but so does Israel. And that's why we're going to continue to consult with them about these talks.”

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