Exclusive: Obama forewarns Netanyahu that sanctions against Iran will soon be partially lifted

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 10, 2013, 12:31 AM (IDT)

Tags:  Barack Obama,  Binyamin Netanyahu,  Iran nuclear,  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

A deal made at their last meeting in the White House on Sept. 30

President Barack Obama has notified Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that his administration will soon start the partial and gradual easing of economic sanctions against Iran, debkafile reports exclusively from its Washington and Jerusalem sources. The reduction would apply to “non-significant” yet “substantial” sanctions, the message said.

Israel is the only American ally to receive prior warning of this decision - and the only one to be briefed in detail of the understandings Washington has reached with Tehran, including Iran’s concessions on its nuclear program. Neither European, nor Persian Gulf leaders led by Saudi Arabia have been let in on the scale of reciprocal concessions approved by Obama and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

These concessions will start coming to light when they are put on the table of the nuclear negotiations beginning in Geneva on Oct. 15 between Iran and the P5+1 group (five Security Council permanent members and Germany).

Meanwhile, high-ranking British, French and other European emissaries arrived in Jerusalem Thursday night. They said they were coming to discuss the latest developments on the Iranian question, but their real purpose was to discover the content of Obama’s message to the Israeli prime minister.

A high-placed American source told debkafile early Thursday: “The American-Iranian cake is already in the oven and half done.

In its next issue, out this coming Friday, DEBKA Weekly divulges in detail the content of the understandings reached between Washington and Tehran, how they were handled and the live wires acting as liaison in the secret exchanges. Exclusive articles will also discuss the strategic, political and military ramifications of the deals struck between Washington and Tehran.