US lawmakers face an uncomfortable choice between their European and Israeli allies now that both sides publicly disagree on whether to pass new Iran sanctions legislation.
Nuclear negotiating partners France, Britain and Germany for the first time jointly came out against new sanctions legislation in a Jan. 21 Washington Post op-ed. Meanwhile, the Israeli intelligence service Mossad issued a rare press statement the morning of Jan. 22 disputing a news report that it had warned US senators that sanctions legislation could "tank" diplomatic negotiations.