Three Republican lawmakers want the State Department’s internal watchdog to investigate John Kerry for allegedly divulging sensitive information about Israeli military operations in Syria to Iran’s foreign minister.
Kerry, the former secretary of state who currently serves as President Biden’s top envoy for climate change, has been accused of betraying an American ally, Israel, by revealing secret information about military operations against Iran.
A leaked recording of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif claims that Kerry told him Israel had attacked Iranian proxies in Syria while serving as Barack Obama’s secretary of state, a role he held between 2013 and 2017.
Kerry himself does not appear in the recording, and Israeli officials have themselves previously shared details of some of their attacks on Syria.
Republican lawmakers want an investigation into claims that former Secretary of State John Kerry divulged secret information about Israeli military operations in Syria to Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Kerry (right) and Zarif (left) are seen above in New York in April 2016
‘I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false,’ Kerry tweeted on Monday.
‘This never happened – either when I was Secretary of State or since.’
Zarif reportedly said that he was astonished at Kerry’s revelation. The leak was of a conversation Zarif held in March with an economist, according to The New York Times.
Three GOP members of Congress – Lee Zeldin of New York; Andy Barr of Kentucky; and Ann Wagner of Missouri – wrote a letter to the State Department’s acting inspector general, Diana Shaw, asking for an investigation into the claims.
An Israeli soldier runs past a mobile artillery cannon at a position near Moshav Sha’al in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on April 22, 2021
‘Given the gravity of the security threat Iran poses to US and Israeli interests, we respectfully ask that you fully investigate these allegations,’ the representatives wrote.
‘Iran is a serious threat to Israel, a bulwark of democracy and stability in the Middle East. It is in our national security interest to stand by our strategic ally – not sell it out to our adversaries.’
The lawmakers demanded that the inspector general look into revoking Kerry’s security clearance.
Zeldin said the allegations against Kerry were ‘massively alarming.’
‘If it’s proven that Kerry actively undermined one of America’s staunchest allies, he needs to resign from the Biden administration immediately and have his security clearance revoked,’ he added.
Zeldin, Barr, and Wagner also want to know if Kerry is playing a role in the Biden administration’s efforts to re-enter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal struck between the West and Iran over its nuclear program.
As per the terms of the deal, the US and allies agreed to sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for the Islamic Republic putting limits on its nuclear program.
Former President Donald Trump took the United States out of the deal in 2018 – fulfilling a campaign promise. Biden has pledged to rejoin the agreement.
Israel under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has balked at the Iran nuclear deal hammered out during the Obama administration, in part by Kerry and Zarif.
Israel is believed to be behind attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, although it did not comment on the latest explosion at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as ex-President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is also an ardent supporter of Israel. She tweeted: ‘This is disgusting on many levels. 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.’
But complicating the picture are numerous public claims by the Israelis about attacking Hezbollah forces in Syria dating to 2013 – something Zarif wouldn’t need the top U.S. diplomat to inform him about
The information about the former top US diplomat comes amid in an explosive leak where Zarif complained about the late Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qassim Soleimani.
The tape surfaced on Sunday, providing indications of a pronounced rift within the Iranian regime – while showcasing Iran’s top diplomat speaking to his own ineffectiveness in contending with powerful internal forces.
‘Former Secretary of State John Kerry informed him that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times, to his astonishment, Mr. Zarif said,’ according to the Times.
The recording has Zarif saying: ‘It was former US Foreign Secretary John Kerry who told me Israel had launched more than 200 attacks on Iranian forces in Syria.’
That drew immediate pushback from conservative supporters of Israel.
Noah Pollak of the Democratic Alliance Group tweeted: ‘John Kerry was ratting out Israeli covert operations in Syria directly to the Iranian foreign minister. Let that sink in. Wow.’
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as ex-President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is also an ardent supporter of Israel.
She tweeted: ‘This is disgusting on many levels. 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.’
But complicating the picture are numerous public claims by the Israelis about attacking Hezbollah forces in Syria dating to 2013 – something Zarif wouldn’t need the top U.S. diplomat to inform him about.
Israel also said it launched an attack in Syria last week following a Syrian missile attack.
Iran’s foreign minister has complained in a leaked recording that the late Revolutionary Guards commander Qassim Soleimani (center in 2016) forced Tehran to send troops to Syria at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence
The White House declined to comment when asked about the potentially explosive information. ‘We’re not going to comment on leaked tapes,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at Monday’s press briefing.
Zarif complained in the leaked recording that the late Revolutionary Guards commander Qassim Soleimani forced Tehran to send troops to Syria at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence.
Zarif said he had ‘zero’ influence over Iran’s foreign policy while Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq last year, exerted his power to fulfill his military demands at the expense of diplomacy.
‘I have never been able to tell a military commander to do something in order to aid diplomacy,’ Zarif said in the tape, aired by the London-based Iran International Persian-language satellite news channel late on Sunday.
In the three-hour leaked recording, the foreign minister criticizes Soleimani for effectively being a pawn for Putin after the commander deployed Iranian ground forces to Syria and allowed Russia’s warplanes to fly over Iran to attack Syria.
Russia had wanted the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the ground to help Moscow’s air campaign in support of the Syrian government.
‘He (Soleimani) asked me to make this or that concession or point almost every time I went to negotiate (with world powers),’ Zarif said in the recording.
In the interview, Zarif added that Soleimani refused to stop using the state-owned national carrier Iran Air for Syrian operations despite his objections. He said the aircraft was sometimes used without the government’s knowledge.
This admission confirms reports that Iran’s civilian aircraft was used to deploy military and personnel to Syria.
‘The (military) field’s success was more important than diplomacy’s success. I was negotiating for the (military) field’s success,’ Zarif said.
‘I have sacrificed diplomacy for the battlefield more than the price that (those on) the battlefield (led by Soleimani)… paid and sacrificed for diplomacy.’
In the leaked tape, he also hinted that Soleimani tried to spoil Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal by colluding with Russia.
He claims that the Revolutionary Guards had written ‘Israel should be wiped off the Earth’ in Hebrew in an effort to ruin the deal.
Zarif added that Iran gave up much of what it ‘could have achieved from the nuclear deal’ for the sake of advancement on the battlefield.
His comments come as talks are underway in Vienna aimed at finding a way for Tehran to return to the nuclear deal with the U.S. and other Western powers.
Leader of the Guards’ clandestine overseas Quds Force, Soleimani was a pivotal figure who built up Iran’s network of proxy armies across the Middle East before he was killed by the U.S. in a drone strike last year – an attack which at the time brought the U.S. and Iran to the brink of war.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the airstrike as an ‘exquisite strike’ that ‘had a massive impact on Iran and the Middle East’
Iran retaliated with a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base where U.S. forces were stationed. Hours later, Iranian forces shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner taking off from Tehran. Days later, Iran’s Guards admitted that the plane had been shot ‘mistakenly’.
‘I said (at the Supreme National Security meeting) that the world is saying the plane was hit with missiles. If the plane was really hit with missiles, tell us so we can see how we can fix it,’ Zarif said in the recording.
‘They told me: ‘No, go, go tweet and deny it’.’
Throughout the recording, Zarif offered a blunt appraisal of diplomacy and the limits of power within the Islamic Republic, providing a rare look inside the country’s theocracy.
He complained that the Revolutionary Guards and its commander had more influence in foreign affairs and the country’s nuclear dossier than him, in remarks that shine a light on ties between the government and the powerful force.
In the interview, Zarif repeated an earlier claim by officials around President Rouhani that they had not been told by the Revolutionary Guard that it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner in January 2020, killing all 176 people on board.
Zarif describes Russia as wanting to stop the nuclear deal, something apparently so sensitive that he warns the interviewer: ‘You definitely can never release this part.’
Russia had a frosty relationship with then-President Barack Obama, whose administration secured the deal with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Russia and Iran also at times have strained relations, despite being battlefield allies in Syria.
‘If Iran hadn’t become Mr. (Donald) Trump’s priority, China and Russia would have become his priority,’ Zarif said. ‘If, because of hostility with the West, we always need Russia and China, they don’t have to compete with anyone, and also they can always enjoy maximum benefits through us.’
Both China and Russia have been vocal proponents of returning to the nuclear deal. Their missions in Vienna did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Despite his criticism, Zarif acknowledged Soleimani’s importance in Iran.
‘I believe that the U.S. by hitting Martyr Soleimani dealt a blow to Iran that would not have been as bad even if they had hit one of our towns,’ he said.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who pushed the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Iran, later linked to a story about the leaked tapes on Twitter. He described it as an ‘exquisite strike’ that ‘had a massive impact on Iran and the Middle East.’
‘You don’t have to take my word for it,’ Pompeo wrote.
The release of his comments set off a firestorm within Iran, where officials carefully mind their words amid a cut-throat political environment that includes the powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The conservative Fars news agency criticized Zarif for presenting himself during the conversation as ‘a symbol of diplomacy’, contrasting with Soleimani as a symbol of the ‘battlefield’.
The Fars agency quoted lawmaker Nasrollah Pejmanfar, who demanded ‘explanations’ from the foreign ministry for the remarks.