Israeli claims that US President Barack Obama has conceded to 80 percent of Iran's demands in negotiations over its nuclear program are completely inaccurate, according to a senior American official.
"That's complete nonsense," a senior US official told The Jerusalem Post, responding to a report published Friday by Channel 10.
In its report, anonymous Israeli officials claimed the president “has given the Iranians 80 percent of what they want” out of the negotiations.
The United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany are negotiating with Iran towards a comprehensive agreement over its vast nuclear program, hoping to clinch a political framework by the end of March.
According to Channel 10, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has been working the phones with Democratic lawmakers in Washington to temper their concerns over the political nature of his upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress, scheduled for March 3.
Sources in Jerusalem told the network that Netanyahu views the Iranian nuclear issue as one of paramount importance for Israel’s security. The urgency of the matter– and not partisan politics– is what motivated Netanyahu to violate diplomatic protocol and accept the Republican leadership’s invitation to address the Congress on the need for more sanctions against Iran, Channel 10 quotes officials as saying.
The White House seeks to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and the US president says that no deal at the negotiating table is better than a bad one.
The standards for a bad deal remain hotly contested between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations.