United States halts Intel cooperation with Israel on Iran

The United States has stopped intelligence cooperation with Israel on Iran’s nuclear programme, Israel’s Channel 10 has reported.

According to the channel, the halt in intelligence cooperation comes as tensions between the United States and Israel amount over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Congress on Tuesday.

Channel 10 said that intelligence cooperation between Israel and the United States has helped the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) collect information for reports on Iran’s nuclear programme in the past.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Netanyahu against revealing details at his upcoming speech to Congress of an Iran nuclear deal that world powers are currently negotiating.

Kerry told reporters in Geneva that he was “concerned by reports” that “selective details” of the deal would be revealed in the coming days, which will make it even harder to make the deal.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Josh Earnest warned the Israeli premier on Monday that if he reveals details about the emerging deal with Iran in his speech to Congress on Tuesday, the U.S. administration will see this as a “betrayal” of America’s trust.

“During the recent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, the United States emphasised Israel’s right to defend itself, but sometimes they differed on how to do so… The United States believes that Netanyahu must act in a manner that commensurate with his goals, even if the United States does not agree with him,” he said.

Earnest stressed that Israel remains the US’s main ally in the region.