Itongadol.- In an extremely unusual step, the Mossad issued a statement Thursday denying the intelligence agency was lobbying US lawmakers against stiffer Iran sanctions and saying that such legislation may lead to a collapse of talks with the Islamic Republic.
Were the Mossad to take that position, it would directly contradict the policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is calling for tougher sanctions on Iran.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, apparently referring to a briefing Pardo held with a high-level group of seven US senators earlier this week, said that an Israeli intelligence official said a tougher sanctions bill at this time would be “like throwing a grenade into the process.”
According to the Mossad statement, the agency\’s head Tamir Pardo met Monday, with Netanyahu\’s approval, with the senate delegation and emphasized the “exceptional effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Iran in recent years,” noting that the sanctions are what drove Iran to the negotiation table.
Pardo said that in talks with Iran it is is”essential” to present both carrots and sticks, and that currently the sticks are lacking. He also said that in the absence of strong pressure, the Iranians will not make meaningful compromises.
Regrading the use of the phrase “throwing a grenade,” cited by Kerry, the statement clarified that Pardo did not use that expression regarding the imposition of sanctions, which he believes are the “sticks” necessary to reach a “good deal with Iran.
Rather, the statement read, Pardo used that expression “as a metaphor to describe the possibility of creating a temporary crisis in the negotiations at the end of which talks would resume under improved conditions.”
The statement said Pardo made it clear that “the bad agreement taking shape with Iran is likely to lead to a regional arms race.”