Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday took to CNN to criticize what he described as an “extremely bad deal” with Iran that global powers are said to be hopeful they can secure this week in Geneva. It’s not just the terms of the trade – which would allow Iran to keep huge swaths of its nuclear program even as the West make significant concessions on sanctions – but also the timing:

“Iran is really on the ropes, their economy is … close to paralysis, and all of a sudden, you take off the pressure, everybody will understand that you’re heading south,” he said… The way to get that is not to reduce sanctions, he said. “I think they should not only keep up the pressure, I think you should increase the pressure, because it’s finally working,” he said. “And if you give it up now, when you have that pressure, and Iran doesn’t even take apart, dismantle one centrifuge, what leverage will you have when you ease the pressure?”

Netanyahu’s office had last week posted an info-graphicto Twitter blasting the likely contours of the understanding, concluding “Iran is getting everything and giving nothing!” The post – which garnered international coverage and made its way to the top of the State Department’s daily press Q&A on Friday – urged Western powers not to “rush into a bad deal with Iran.”

At the briefing multiple reporters pushed spokesperson Jen Psaki on the degree to which the United States was managing to assure the Israelis that an agreement being pursued with Iran would not endanger the security interests of our allies. The Associated Press’s Matthew Lee remained unconvinced:

QUESTION: Have you seen – I presume you have – Prime Minister Netanyahu’s tweet of this – what is basically an advertisement against your proposed or potential deal with Iran? I’m hard-pressed to remember a time when the national security interests of the United States and Israel appeared to be so divergent, and I’m just wondering if you have any reaction to this rather unprecedented public campaign that the Israelis are mounting in opposition to something that you think is vitally important for not only regional security and their security but for your security.

MS. PSAKI: I did see the tweet that went out, as I know many did. It’s worth keeping in mind – and this is a message that we’ll continue to repeat to our Israeli friends – that we do actually have the same goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and ours – through a comprehensive diplomatic solution that addresses all of our concerns. That’s our bottom line. The place where we diverge a bit is on the tactical level, where we believe we need a first step that halts Iran’s program to give us time to negotiate this long-term agreement, and they believe we should just keep upping the pressure on Iran to get them to capitulate all at once to a long-term agreement. We don’t, obviously, think that’s a path that is possible. That’s an ongoing discussion that we’re continuing to have with the Israelis, but beyond that, I don’t have any particular new response to the tweet that went out today.

QUESTION: Well, they clearly haven’t bought your argument thus far, and frankly, they’re not going to. And if you think that they are, I think you’re – whoever is in charge is deluding themselves. So are you prepared to continue to push ahead with this proposed deal, potential deal, in the face of Israel’s complete – or at least maybe Prime Minister Netanyahu’s complete rejection of it, and very strong opposition to it in Congress?

Journalists also challenged Psaki to justify the administration’s repeated and controversial statements implying that advocates of new sanctions on Iran were putting the U.S. on a path to war with the Islamic republic. Among those who have in recent months supported sanctions are the 178 House Democrats who last July voted for new sanctions and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) who yesterday rejected White House calls to delay new financial pressure. It is not known if any of these elected U.S. lawmakers have been briefed specifically on the administration’s strange regarding their position.

Thursday’s briefing had already at times generated confusion, with the State Department simultaneously claiming that U.S. diplomats were closely coordinating with the Israelis over the details of a proposed deal and that the Israelis – who were publicly critical of the negotiations’ course – didn’t know the details of a proposed deal.

[Photo: U.S. Department of State / Flickr]