John Kerry Undermined Trump In Unapproved Talks With Iran

Former Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly undermined President Donald Trump’s foreign policy toward Iran during unauthorized talks with senior Iranian officials, according to Keith Kellogg, a former chief of staff for the National Security Council during Donald Trump’s presidency.

“He did it all the time,” Kellogg told Just the News when asked if Kerry sent a mixed message to Iran. By the mere fact that he went there, and the fact that he spoke to [Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif sent a very, very strong message against what we were trying to do.

“We read cables and understand what is going on,” added Kellogg. “We talked about it in the Oval Office several times. It didn’t help what he was doing, because he was basically countering all the messages we were transmitting and trying to push them into some kind of negotiation.

Trump reimposed tough sanctions on Iran after exiting the multilateral nuclear deal with the Islamist regime. The measures crippled the oil-rich nation in an attempt to force Iran to commit to denuclearization.

“I was there many times when the president was approaching people like Macron from France, approaching Boris Johnson in the UK and trying to get them to be a go-between to talk to the Iranians and get us into some kind of discussion. And we always had a setback, ”Kellogg said. “Because we had people like Kerry talking to Zarif and others.”

It appears that the Trump administration did nothing to stop Kerry, causing a headache for Kellogg and others.

“We knew what he was doing and the frustration we had is that basically everyone recognized it and no one cared if one of us had done it. [sic] done that, ”Kellogg said.

In late 2016, President-elect Trump’s incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn came under FBI scrutiny for discussing US sanctions against Russia with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The office contemplated charging Flynn with an archaic law that prohibits people from conducting unauthorized diplomacy.

Kerry, who is now President Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate, recently defended himself from telling Zarif about the number of times Israel attacked Iranian targets. Kerry said the information was in the public domain. Kerry’s message cited a Twitter message from a journalist who had pointed to a news report in which a senior Israeli official said Israel had attacked Iran’s interests in Syria 200 times, the same number that Kerry revealed to Zarif. It is unclear if Kerry’s conversation with Zarif predates the public report.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Kerry and the Biden administration.

Kellogg said that even disclosing classified information is still illegal, even if it is in the public domain.

“Even if it is a public record, it never recognizes classified operations. The press may understand it, but you don’t recognize it, ”Kellogg said.

News of Kerry’s disclosure to Zarif came after a report on a leaked Zarif interview in March.

In the leaked audio, Zarif, Iran’s top diplomat, complains that the elite of the Revolutionary Guard had more influence over the country’s foreign affairs and nuclear record than he did.

“I have never been able to tell a military commander to do something to aid diplomacy,” Zarif said.

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