Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met several years ago with several current officials in the Biden administration to “undermine” President Trump’s relations with the country, according to a report.
One of the meetings between Zarif and Robert Malley, now the special envoy for Iranian politics, took place in 2019 after Trump withdrew the United States from the Obama-era Iranian nuclear deal, he said. reported Sunday The Washington Times.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry also met with Zarif during the early years of Trump’s presidency, something he had publicly acknowledged. And so did Ernest Moniz, Obama-era energy secretary, according to the report.
Although the exact details of what was discussed at the meetings were unclear, a senior US official told the newspaper that Zarif’s goal was to “devise a political strategy to undermine the Trump administration.”
The source added that Zarif was seeking to regain support for Iran’s nuclear deal, or a similar deal, in case the next president of the United States was a Democrat.
Malley, Kerry and Moniz helped negotiate Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, which restricted the country’s nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions.
Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and re-imposed economic sanctions on Tehran.
Sources told the Times that Malley, in his meeting with Zarif, urged Iranian officials to stay tight until 2021, when a democratic administration was expected to be able to restore the deal.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that the United States is ready to restart negotiations with Iran on the re-entry of the two-nation agreement.