Aides to
Donald Trump, the US president, hired an Israeli private intelligence
agency to orchestrate a “dirty ops” campaign against key
individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the
Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal.
People
in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to
“get dirt” on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s
top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to
Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.
The
extraordinary revelations come days before Trump’s 12 May deadline
to either scrap or continue to abide by the international deal
limiting Iran’s nuclear programme.
Jack
Straw, who as foreign secretary was involved in earlier efforts to
restrict Iranian weapons, said: “These are extraordinary and
appalling allegations but which also illustrate a high level of
desperation by Trump and [the Israeli prime minister] Benjamin
Netanyahu, not so much to discredit the deal but to undermine those
around it.”
One
former high-ranking British diplomat with wide experience of
negotiating international peace agreements, requesting anonymity,
said: “It’s bloody outrageous to do this. The whole point of
negotiations is to not play dirty tricks like this.”
Full
report:
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