The Obama administration used American satellites to spy on Israeli defense forces after signing the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, according to a New York Times report.
President Barack Obama signed the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the Israeli government was initially kept in dark about it, but “the Israelis found out anyway.”
But for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it was “the ultimate betrayal,” according to the report. “Israel’s closest ally negotiating behind its back with its most bitter enemy.”
“American spy satellites watched Israeli drones take off from bases in Azerbaijan and fly south over the Iranian border—taking extensive pictures of Iran’s nuclear sites and probing whether Iranian air defenses spotted the intrusion.
While the deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program in lieu of lifting sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, Trump had complained that the deal halted Iran’s nuclear program only for a fixed time period, didn’t put a halt to the development of its ballistic missiles, and instead gave it a $100 billion that it used “as a slush fund for weapons, terror, and oppression.”
“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of this deal,” said Trump. “The Iran deal is defective to its core.”
After Trump scrapped the deal, Obama called his announcement “misguided.”
Iran on Saturday said it now uses arrays of advanced centrifuges that were prohibited by the 2015 nuclear deal and can enrich uranium “much more beyond” current levels to weapons-grade material, taking its the third step away from the accord while saying Europe has little time to offer it new terms.