Iran’s foreign minister revealed in a leaked recording that former Secretary of State John Kerry told him about secret Israeli attacks on Iranian interests in Syria during the Trump administration.
Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif said in the leaked recording new York Times And Iran International, That the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the country’s supreme leader kept him in the dark about government negotiations and military operations, and that he was getting intel from Kerry.
“It was former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who told me that Israel had carried out more than 200 attacks on Iranian forces in Syria,” he said.
Zarif made the comment in a March interview with an Iranian journalist that was not to be released until August when President Hassan Rouhani leaves office.
Zarif met with Kerry and Obama’s Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz when former President Donald Trump was in the White House, which Kerry accepted in 2018.
Kerry and Moniz were instrumental in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and global powers.
Carey said he met with Zarif and other Iranian officials in an effort to revive the nuclear deal.
Trump later slammed Kerry that month for his “shadow diplomacy”, saying that Obama administration officials got America into “this mess” in the first place.
“The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal shadow diplomacy on a very badly negotiated Iran deal. He was the man to make this MESS in the first place !, “Trump posted on Twitter after reports surfaced about Kerry’s talks with the Iranians.
He opted out after days of pact.
At the time, Kerry defended the nuclear deal.
“I think every American would want Iran to have every voice possible in compliance with the nuclear deal, which prevents a war,” he said in a statement.
“Secretary Carey, like every previous Secretary of State, keeps in touch with her former counterparts around the world. Like most of America’s closest allies, he believes it is important that the nuclear deal, which took the world several years to negotiate, remains in effect as countries focus on stability in the region. “
In May 2019, President Trump accused Kerry of violating federal law by siding with Iran under US interests – and said he should be prosecuted for it.
“You know, John Kerry talks to them a lot.” John Carey tells them not to call. This is a violation of the Logan Act, and clearly he should be prosecuted, ”Trump said at the time.
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