Kerry said he has met with Iran three or four times since leaving office

During interviews to promote his new book, Kerry told an interviewer that he has met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif three or four times since leaving office and that their talks touched on the international nuclear agreement, to which Iran, the EU, Russia and China still adhere.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted his predecessor John Kerry for “unseemly and unprecedented” behavior after Kerry said he had met Iranian officials since leaving office.

“What Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department Friday.
“This is a former secretary of state engaged with the world’s largest state sponsor of terror and according to him, he was talking to them, he was telling them to wait out this administration,’ Pompeo added.

“You can’t find precedent for this in US history and the secretary ought not engage in this kind of behavior,” Pompeo continued, in answer to a question. “It’s beyond inappropriate.”

A spokesman for Kerry ridiculed Pompeo’s assertion that Kerry was acting in unprecedented ways, adding that Kerry had briefed Pompeo on his conversations with Iranian officials so he would be aware of Iran’s thinking.
“Secretary Kerry stays in touch with his former counterparts around the world just like every previous Secretary of State, and in a long phone conversation with Secretary Pompeo earlier this year, he went into great detail about what he had learned about the Iranian’s view,” Matt Summers said. “No secrets were kept from this administration.”

“Like America’s closest allies, Kerry believes it is important that the commitments Iran made under the nuclear agreement, which took the world years to negotiate, remain effective,” Summers added. “He was advocating for what was wholly consistent with US policy at the time. There’s nothing unusual, let alone unseemly or inappropriate, about former diplomats meeting with foreign counterparts.”

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