Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met several years ago with several current Biden government officials to “undermine” former President Trump’s dealings with the country, a report claims.
One of the meetings between Zarif and Robert Malley, now the special envoy to Iran policy, took place in 2019 after Trump pulled the US from the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, The Washington Times reported Sunday.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry also met with Zarif in the early years of Trump’s presidency – which he had publicly acknowledged. And so did Obama-era Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, the report said.
While the exact details of what was discussed at the meetings were not clear, a former senior US official told the paper that Zarif’s goal was “to devise a political strategy to undermine the Trump administration.”
The source added that Zarif was looking for support for the Iran nuclear deal – or a similar one, in case the next US president was a Democrat.
Malley, Kerry and Moniz helped negotiate the nuclear deal with Iran, which curtailed the country’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and again imposed economic sanctions on Tehran.
Sources told The Times that during his meeting with Zarif, Malley likely urged Iranian officials to stay put until 2021, when a Democratic government was expected to restore the deal.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that the US is ready to resume negotiations with Iran over both countries joining the deal again.