White House Denies Reports of Breakthrough in Iran Talks

Netanyahu Vows to 'Do Anything' to Stop Deal

The White House is denying reports that emerged over the past two days saying that the US and Iran are making a breakthrough in talks and are close to agreeing to a deal that would see restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear program taper off after a decade.

The Obama Administration has been very secretive about what is being discussed, likely because Israeli officials seize on everything, true or not, as an excuse to condemn the talks in general. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in response to the latest report that the P5+1 is giving Iran the “green light” to make nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu, who is scheduled to visit the US next week to lobby against diplomacy with Iran, insisted in other comments that he will “do everything” possible to sabotage the deal.

Administration officials have criticized Netanyahu on the grounds that he doesn’t know the terms of the very secretive deal. Netanyahu has claimed secret intelligence on the deal, though since he opposes any deal with Iran on virtually any terms, the details don’t really matter that much from his perspective.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.