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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasts predecessor John Kerry for meddling in US policy on Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is shown here announcing the creation of the Iran Action Group at the Department of State on August 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration announced the forming of an Iran Action Group that will coordinate and manage U.S. policy toward Iran after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. (Photo by Rod Lamkey/Getty Images)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasts predecessor John Kerry for meddling in US policy on Iran

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday accused his predecessor, John Kerry, of attempting to undermine the Trump administration's stance on Iran. Kerry recently met several times with a Iranian foreign minister who was his main contact for the 2015 nuclear deal negotiations.

Pompeo blasted Kerry for continuing to communicate with Iran officials and offer them tips on how to avert the U.S.’s new and tougher policy with the country. He called the former secretary's actions "unseemly and unprecedented.”

What is the background?

During a press conference, Pompeo was asked about a tweet by President Donald Trump that referenced the meetings.

Trump wrote: “John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian Regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people. He told them to wait out the Trump Administration! Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act? BAD!”

A Kerry spokesperson deflected the criticism by saying “no secrets were kept from this administration,” the Guardian reported.

Trump withdrew U.S. support from the nuclear deal with Iran in May. Since then, the administration has pushed to reimpose sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the deal.

What were his comments?

According to a transcript of the news conference, a reporter asked Pompeo if he believes the meetings were “illegal.”

He declined to elaborate on the legality of Kerry’s actions, but said his actions were inappropriate.

So, I’ll leave the legal determinations to others. But what Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented. This is a former secretary of state engaged with the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, and according to him – right? You don’t have to take my word for it. He – these are his answers. He was talking to them. He was telling them to wait out this administration.

You can’t find precedent for this in U.S. history, and the secretary ought not – Secretary Kerry ought not to engage in that kind of behavior. It’s inconsistent with what foreign policy of the United States is, as directed by this President, and it is beyond inappropriate for him to be engaged in this. I remember, I saw him. I saw him in Munich at the Security Conference. He was there with – if I have my facts right, because I think I saw them all with my own eyes – Secretary Moniz and Wendy Sherman, the troika. And I am confident that they met with their troika counterparts, although one can perhaps ask Secretary Kerry if my recollection with respect to that is accurate.

I wasn’t in the meeting, but I am reasonably confident that he was not there in support of U.S. policy with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran, who this week fired Katyusha rockets toward the United States embassy in Baghdad and took action against our consulate in Basra.

Kerry shot back on Twitter on Friday, saying the president should be “more worried about Paul Manafort meeting with Robert Mueller than me meeting with Iran's FM. But if you want to learn something about the nuclear agreement that made the world safer, buy my new book, Every Day Is Extra.”

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