John Kerry: Unequivocally anti-American, anti-Israel 'climate envoy' needs to go — now!
Pressure mounts for Kerry to step down from National Security Council, resign Biden administration following reports he shared classified information with Iran
Then-Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javan Zarif in Vienna January of 2016. Zarif claimed this past weekend that Kerry at one point while Secretary, in what would be a violation of national security told him hundreds of attacks in Iran were carried out by Israel. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/AP)
Calls for the resignation of Democrat John Kerry, the Biden administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, picked up steam on Monday following an explosive report published over the weekend in which leaked audio of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif indicated Kerry told him that Israel was behind more than 200 attacks on Iranian assets in Syria during the Obama administration.
Such a revelation to a sworn enemy of the United States is a violation of national security, bordering on treason. It would also be a massive violation of trust with Israel, the strongest ally the U.S. has in the Mideast. Kerry has vehemently denied Zarif’s statements, but the two have been friends for over 12 years and their children were educated at the same exclusive Washington, D.C. school.
Zarif also said in the leaked recording obtained by the New York Times and Iran International that the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s supreme leader kept him in the dark about government negotiations and military operations, and that he was receiving intel from Kerry.
“It was former U.S. Foreign Secretary John Kerry who told me Israel had launched more than 200 attacks on Iranian forces in Syria,” he said.
Zarif made the comments in a March interview with an Iranian journalist who wasn’t supposed to release the foreign minister’s comments until August, when President Hassan Rouhani leaves office. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and State Department spokesman Ned Price both refused to comment on the report when asked about it on Monday saying that they do not comment on leaked materials.
Kerry decided to respond to it after Price and Psaki both declined, claiming, “I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened — either when I was Secretary of State or since.”
America’s Conservative Voice (ACV) notes that Kerry did not specify what which part of the story he claims is false. Also notable is the fact Kerry commented on leaked material after Psaki and Price said the Biden administration does not comment on leaked material.
“If this tape is verified, it would signal catastrophic and disqualifying recklessness by Envoy Kerry to Foreign Minister Zarif that endangered the safety of Americans and our allies,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in a statement to ACV.
It would be consistent with Kerry’s long pattern of empowering Iran’s regime. Kerry poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei’s terrorist bank accounts. He was a close confidant — perhaps too close — with Zarif during the Obama administration, and was caught repeatedly meeting with him during the Trump administration in clear violation of Logan Act. Kerry has nver publicly accounted for what was discussed in those meetings.
Israel’s attacks on Iranian assets in and near Syria were in response to missile bombardments of Israeli forces providing support to the U.S. and other allies during the ongoing Syrian conflict. (Photo: Chaim Schulman/AP)
Reaction from conservatives in Washington, D.C. was swift.
“People are talking about treason — and I don’t throw that word around a lot,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) stated in an interview. “John Kerry does all kinds of things that I can’t stand. But this is the one that broke the camel’s back.”
“I don’t do this lightly. In my entire time in the Senate, I’ve never called for anyone’s resignation,” Sullivan claimed. “But … John Kerry’s record of undermining working families and working against American national security interests was too much to bear. He needs to go.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley also voiced her anger on Twitter over the report. “This is disgusting on many levels,” Haley tweeted. “Biden and Kerry have to answer for why Kerry would be tipping off Iran, the number one sponsor of terror, while stabbing one of our greatest partners, Israel, in the back.”
Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and CIA Director under President Donald Trump, said the report proved “what I’ve said for years: That [Zarif] continued to engage with former secretary of state Kerry on policy matters after Kerry’s public service and, according to Zarif, Kerry informed the Iranians of Israeli operations.”
Kerry led the negotiations in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under the Obama administration. Republicans staunchly opposed the deal then and stand against reentering it under the Biden administration. Current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however, has already begun the process to reinstate the agreement.
Zarif’s statements have not been verified yet. He made his comments to an Iranian academic and the audio was initially leaked to a London-based media outlet. The timing of the reported leak to Zarif is unclear. The Israelis publicly reported the attacks in 2018.