Press TV - Aides toUS President Donald Trumphave reportedly hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to devise a dirty ops campaign against key Obama administration officials who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal in a scheme to discredit the agreement.
Trump administration officials contacted private investigators in May of last year, directing them to get dirt on former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes and Colin Kahl, the deputy assistant to former President Barack Obama, as part of an elaborate scheme to undermine the deal, UK-based The Observer newspaper revealed in a report on Saturday.
The extraordinary development comes days before Trumps May 12 deadline to either scrap or continue to abide by the international pact regarding Irans civilian nuclear program.
These are extraordinary and appalling allegations but which also illustrate a high level of desperation by Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu, not so much to discredit the deal but to undermine those around it, said former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Officials linked to Trumps team contacted Israeli intelligence elements days after the US president visited Tel Aviv a year ago. Trump then made a pledge to Netanyahu that Iran would never have nuclear weapons despite the fact that Tehran has always maintained that it is principally and categorically opposed to development and use of nuclear arms.
The British newspaper further cited a source familiar with details of the dirty tricks campaign as saying thatthe idea was that people acting for Trump would discredit those who were pivotal in selling the deal, making it easier to pull out of it.
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US President Donald Trump (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo by Reuters)[/caption]The Israeli investigators in the dirty ops mission were to look at Rhodes' and Kahl's personal relationships with Iran-friendly lobbyists, and to determine whether they had benefited personally or politically from the nuclear deal.
Rhodes slammed thethe scheme by the Trump administration as "chillingly authoritarian" in a statement to the British newspaper.
I was not aware, though sadly am not surprised. I would say that digging up dirt on someone for carrying out their professional responsibilities in their positions as White House officials is a chillingly authoritarian thing to do," he said.
A spokesman for the White Houses national security council offered no comment when contacted about the revelation.
Trump has repeatedly signaled his intention to scrap the Iran deal, denouncing it as the worst deal ever. In a January speech, he accused his predecessor of having curried favor" with the Iranian government so asto "push through the disastrously flawed Iran nuclear deal.
The development comes days after Netanyahu again accused Iran of continuing to hide and expand its nuclear weapons know-how after the 2015 deal, in what was widely regarded as a scripted, publicity presentation to further pressure the Trump administration to reject the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a scripted presentation broadcast on Israeli TV on April 10, 2018.[/caption]During the televised show, Netanyahu claimed that the Israeli regime possessed a wide array of new and conclusive proof of purported Iranian violations.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House for an official state visit, during which he tried to persuade Trump to remain in the agreement. Following the visit, Macron told reporters that he still expects Trump to exit the deal.
My view I dont know what your president will decide is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons, said the French president.
The European Union, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have expressed support for the deal in the wake of the Israeli claims.
Iran has on numerous occasionsasserted that its nuclear program is merely peaceful and not meant to make nukes.
This is whileIsrael is widely thought to possess hundreds of nuclearnuclear warheads and refuses to either allow inspections of its nuclear facilities or join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
