'Black Cube' First Denies, Then Obfuscates, Then Admits Spying On Iran Deal Negotiators

moon of alabama

Yesterday we published a piece about "Black Cube", an Israeli spy company with deep state relations. The piece was updated earlier today.

Black Cube used false identities to trick two former members of the Obama administration, Ben Rhodes and Colin Kahl, as well as the pro-Iran lobbyist Trita Parsi, to find out if they had profited from the nuclear deal (JCPOA) with Iran. The Observer, which broke the story without naming Black Cube, reported that people related to the Trump administration had hired the company to get information that could help Trump to dump the nuclear deal with Iran.

Now the company is in panic and tries to cover its trail.

It is why we got mail:

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Referring to the Moon of Alabama piece Black Cube writes:

"Please add our full comment ASAP! It causes us damage and it's defamation without our full denial."

I have cut their "full comment" from the above pictured email. I see absolutely no reason to publish their lying "comments" and denials.

How do I know that Black Cube lies?

Well, that is what spies do.

In their first comment to Israeli media after the Observer story broke without naming the company Black Cube denied any involvement. We then connected Black Cube to what the Observer reported. Early today the New Yorker confirmed our take and got a different comment from Black Cube. The company's denial was no longer clear-cut but included suspiciously specific formulations:

In a statement, Black Cube said, “It is Black Cube’s policy to never discuss its clients with any third party, and to never confirm or deny any speculation made with regard to the company’s work.” The statement also read, “Black Cube has no relation whatsoever to the Trump administration, to Trump aides, to anyone close to the administration, or to the Iran Nuclear deal.”

"Black Cube has no relation whatsoever ... to the Iran Nuclear deal." Hmm, did anyone claim that very specific "relation .. to" point?

Then the company told Haaretz that, yes, the Iran deal was the reason why it tried to spy on Obama administration people who had worked on it:

Israeli intelligence company Black Cube was hired to spy on former aides in the Obama administration last year. A source close to the company says that the Israeli intelligence company was acting on behalf of a business entity, however, and not on behalf U.S. President Donald Trump’s aides.

A source close to the company said the purpose of its data collection was to serve the client’s business or legal interests, and had nothing to do with Trump. The source also said correspondence regarding Iranian nuclear issues related to the business interests of the client who hired the spy firm.

Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps works for the Israeli channel 10 news. Here she documents the development of those lies from her personal interaction with the company:

Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps @manuelbaz - 17:09 UTC - 7 May 2018Thread :
1. Right after the report published in the #Observer, I asked the #BlackCube spokesman if Black Cube is in fact the Israeli firm. His answer (yesterday morning) was : "Not related to us".
2. @lrozen tweeted here yesterday that it is confirmed the Israeli firm in question is #BlackCube. He denied again. "BS, It's not us". I reported his denial here.
3. This morning, after @RonanFarrow 's publication in the @NewYorker , his version changed: "We didn't know the @guardian meant us. We didn’t know it was us because this report was about #Trump. But then we saw the emails reported by the New Yorker and we know those emails."
4. He insisted "there is no connection to Trump or the #IranNuclearDeal" but he didn't deny #BlackCube was hired by a private company and even told me the client is "somebody that profits from the sanctions on Iran".
Question : who is the client and how they connect to Trump?

Now other Israeli media are given more specific information, likely also false, about the "private company":

Neri Zilber @NeriZilber - 17:13 UTC - 7 May 2018Black Cube op targeting former Obama staffers was allegedly about business dispute bw 2 shipping companies - 1 of which Taiwanese - involving Iranian sanctions regime. Per Israel Ch2 news

It is obvious that the Black Cube statements are not the truth but denials which change into obfuscating lies when they are contradicted by new evidence. Black Cube's "dispute between two shipping companies" explanation is certainly just as false as their earlier statements.

Neither this nor other sites are defaming Black Cube. The spy outlet is doing that all by itself.

The original Observer claim that people near to Trump hired Black Cube has neither been confirmed nor debunked by any other reporting.

That Black Cube is suddenly so eager to point to some far away "Taiwanese shipping dispute" trail convinces me that Trump circles are indeed involved.

Posted by b on May 7, 2018 at 03:28 PM | Permalink

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/05/black-cube-first-denies-than-obfuscates-its-spying-on-iran-deal-negotiators-.html#more