Netanyahu takes another swipe at the White House Netanyahu challenges the White House to release details of its negotiations with Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took another shot at the White House Thursday, sharply escalating his dispute with the Obama administration over its dealings with Iran.

In comments reported by the Associated Press, Netanyahu claimed to know the details of the nuclear deal being negotiated between the two countries — despite a recent spate of reports claiming that the Obama administration has begun withholding information for fear of Israeli leaks.


“We know that Tehran knows the details of the talks. Now I tell you that Israel also knows the details of the proposed agreement,” the prime minister said. “I think this is a bad agreement that is dangerous for the state of Israel, and not just for it.”

He added, “If anyone thinks otherwise, what is there to hide here?”

Netanyahu’s claims come a day after spokespeople for the State Department and the White House told reporters — in unusually blunt language — that the Obama administration will not be sharing some details about the negotiations with Israel.

The Israeli prime minister has been vocal in denouncing the talks and plans to address Congress on the issue next month.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters that the White House is being “mindful not to negotiate in public” to insure that negotiations remain private.

“I think it is safe to say not everything you are hearing from the Israeli government is an accurate reflection of the details of the talks,” Psaki said.

“I think there are some details that obviously we have concern about being in public, to respect and protect the negotiations, and those are details that we take steps to ensure are not – don’t get into the public,” she said.

Asked if this means the U.S. has been withholding some details, Psaki answered, “Correct.”

White House Press Secretary Joshua Earnest said that the U.S. “is not going to be in a position of negotiating this agreement in public, particularly when we see that there is a continued practice of cherry-picking specific pieces of information and using them out of context to distort the negotiating position of the United States.”

According to the AP, when Psaki was later asked about Netanyahu’s claims of knowing the deal, she said, “Then the fact is that he knows more than the negotiators, in that there is no deal yet.”