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| Chill Bedevils U.S. and Israel in Iran Talks | |
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| WASHINGTON — With the Obama administration racing to negotiate the outlines of a nuclear deal with Iran by the end of March, aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel have charged in recent days that they are being deliberately left in the dark about the details of the talks. The Americans have said that is untrue, but even one of Washington’s closest negotiating partners reports being warned about being too open with the Israelis, “because whatever we say may be used in a selective way.” | |
| The tensions between the United States and Israel over negotiating with Tehran have a long and twisted history, and they plunged to a new low when Mr. Netanyahu engineered an invitation to address a joint meeting of Congress, in less than two weeks, to warn against a “bad deal.” | |
| Now, with Mr. Netanyahu maneuvering to survive a March 17 election, and Mr. Obama pressing for a breakthrough agreement that could end three decades of enmity with Iran and reduce the chances of a military confrontation, it seems that Washington and Jerusalem are engaging in the diplomatic equivalent of posting notes to each other on the refrigerator door. | Now, with Mr. Netanyahu maneuvering to survive a March 17 election, and Mr. Obama pressing for a breakthrough agreement that could end three decades of enmity with Iran and reduce the chances of a military confrontation, it seems that Washington and Jerusalem are engaging in the diplomatic equivalent of posting notes to each other on the refrigerator door. |
| The latest dispute has been building since the Israeli news media began running stories about Mr. Netanyahu’s being frozen out of the briefings about the talks, sourced to unnamed Israeli officials. Some of the reports have been accompanied by partial details about how many centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium, would be left spinning in Iran’s facilities under an American proposal — oftentimes omitting key facts about how quickly the centrifuges could produce bomb-grade fuel. | |
| For its part, the Obama administration has been issuing strong denials that it is holding anything back. Alistair C. Baskey, a spokesman for the National Security Council, called the most recent report of a breakdown in communication, broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2, “patently false” and said that Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, “maintains regular contact with her Israeli counterpart,” Yossi Cohen. Mr. Cohen is coming to Washington in the next few days, and one of Ms. Rice’s top aides on the Middle East, Philip Gordon, has been in Israel this week, partly to talk about Iran. | |
| But European officials say that the Israeli reports, while overblown, are not entirely based on fiction. One recalled a recent call from Wendy Sherman, the No. 3 State Department official and lead American negotiator with Iran, saying she had cautioned against telling the Israelis too much because the details could be twisted to undermine a deal. Ms. Sherman did not respond to an email inquiry, but a State Department official speaking on her behalf said that she had encouraged the Europeans to talk with Israel — as long as they were cognizant “that the negotiation should take place in the negotiating room.” | |
| Marie Harf, the deputy State Department spokeswoman, said that Ms. Sherman would also be seeing Mr. Cohen this week. | Marie Harf, the deputy State Department spokeswoman, said that Ms. Sherman would also be seeing Mr. Cohen this week. |
| Another European official said that Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been engaging in the negotiations with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, every two weeks or so, was “fuming about Israeli leaks” in a recent conversation. A State Department official said that Mr. Kerry fumed about leaks in general, and argued that it was in no one’s interest to negotiate in public. | Another European official said that Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been engaging in the negotiations with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, every two weeks or so, was “fuming about Israeli leaks” in a recent conversation. A State Department official said that Mr. Kerry fumed about leaks in general, and argued that it was in no one’s interest to negotiate in public. |
| To the Israelis, there is a difference between being briefed regularly and being told exactly what Mr. Obama’s bottom line is in a negotiation that has hundreds of moving parts. | To the Israelis, there is a difference between being briefed regularly and being told exactly what Mr. Obama’s bottom line is in a negotiation that has hundreds of moving parts. |
| “We get briefings, but they are empty,” one Israeli official contended the other day. Perhaps so, but when Israeli officials start discussing the details of the current negotiations — from how long an agreement would stay in place before Iran would be free to produce as much enriched uranium as it wants to the proposed engineering changes to a heavy-water reactor that could produce bomb-grade plutonium — the officials seem quite up-to-date. | “We get briefings, but they are empty,” one Israeli official contended the other day. Perhaps so, but when Israeli officials start discussing the details of the current negotiations — from how long an agreement would stay in place before Iran would be free to produce as much enriched uranium as it wants to the proposed engineering changes to a heavy-water reactor that could produce bomb-grade plutonium — the officials seem quite up-to-date. |
| According to one American official, the concern is that Israeli officials, mindful that they are talking to audiences at home, in the United States and particularly in Congress, know how to pick out one or two details that seem particularly incriminating. | According to one American official, the concern is that Israeli officials, mindful that they are talking to audiences at home, in the United States and particularly in Congress, know how to pick out one or two details that seem particularly incriminating. |
| “They tell part of the story, like how many centrifuges we might consider letting the Iranians hold,” one American official said, refusing to speak on the record because the White House and the State Department insist on secrecy, for fear that leaks of any kind could kill a deal here or in Tehran. “What they don’t tell you is that we only let them have that many centrifuges if they ship most of their fuel out of the country.” | “They tell part of the story, like how many centrifuges we might consider letting the Iranians hold,” one American official said, refusing to speak on the record because the White House and the State Department insist on secrecy, for fear that leaks of any kind could kill a deal here or in Tehran. “What they don’t tell you is that we only let them have that many centrifuges if they ship most of their fuel out of the country.” |
| The Israelis say Mr. Obama has regularly frozen them out, starting with the secret round of negotiations with the government of President Hassan Rouhani that brought about a temporary freeze in Iranian activity and led to the present talks. “It makes us question in Israel, are they open with us or are they trying to hide from us?” Gen. Yaakov Amidror, Mr. Netanyahu’s former national security adviser, said Tuesday, arguing that trust between the allies had been badly damaged. | |
| In public, Israeli officials complain about what Yuval Steinitz, the minister of intelligence and strategic affairs, called the United States’ general approach to the negotiations, which is to give up on the idea of dismantling all of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability. In fact, even the George W. Bush administration had given up on that idea, conceding that there was no way to reach a deal without Iran retaining at least a face-saving amount of enrichment capability. | In public, Israeli officials complain about what Yuval Steinitz, the minister of intelligence and strategic affairs, called the United States’ general approach to the negotiations, which is to give up on the idea of dismantling all of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability. In fact, even the George W. Bush administration had given up on that idea, conceding that there was no way to reach a deal without Iran retaining at least a face-saving amount of enrichment capability. |
| But a few years ago, American officials defined that face-saving amount as a few hundred centrifuges. The offer made to Iran last fall was about 4,500 centrifuges — provided that most of the country’s fuel was shipped out to Russia, so Iran could not race to make a bomb. | |
| There is now talk of raising that figure to 6,500 centrifuges, but only if Iran reconfigures them in a way that would greatly lower their efficiency. The Energy Department’s national laboratories, which make the fuel for American nuclear weapons, have been churning out ideas that would assure, in their view, that Iran would not be able to make a bomb’s worth of fuel in less than a year — the standard Mr. Kerry set for a viable agreement. | There is now talk of raising that figure to 6,500 centrifuges, but only if Iran reconfigures them in a way that would greatly lower their efficiency. The Energy Department’s national laboratories, which make the fuel for American nuclear weapons, have been churning out ideas that would assure, in their view, that Iran would not be able to make a bomb’s worth of fuel in less than a year — the standard Mr. Kerry set for a viable agreement. |
| The problem is that experts do not agree on what combination of factors would assure the one year of “breakout time.” British, French and German experts have somewhat different views. The Iranians published a white paper last year with radically different estimates. And the Israelis, who have their own undeclared nuclear arsenal, also have their own calculations. | The problem is that experts do not agree on what combination of factors would assure the one year of “breakout time.” British, French and German experts have somewhat different views. The Iranians published a white paper last year with radically different estimates. And the Israelis, who have their own undeclared nuclear arsenal, also have their own calculations. |
| “This could be a problem if we finally strike a deal,” said a participant in the negotiations who refused to speak on the record on the insistence of the White House and the State Department. “Everyone is going to have the same set of facts about what the Iranians will be allowed to do. And everyone will have a different estimate about how long it would take for them to build a weapon.” |