A media furor has arisen following the shocking claim of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about John Kerry’s actions during his tenure as Obama’s secretary of state in a recently leaked recording, in which Zarif also criticized the influence of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and accused Russia of trying to sabotage the 2015 nuclear deal.

According to The New York Times report on the leaked recording, former Iranian vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi said that the publication of Zarif’s comments was “tantamount to Israel stealing the nuclear documents” from Iran in 2018.

In the recording, revealed by Iran International, a UK-based Farsi-language news channel which is viewed as hostile to Iran, Zarif said that he was “astonished” when Kerry informed him about Israeli attacks on Iranian-backed sites in Syria on at least 200 occasions. The recording was of an hours-long taped conversation that took place last March between Zarif and Iranian economist Saeed Leylaz as part of an oral history project.

Since the report of the leak, several Republicans have slammed Kerry for leaking secret Israeli operations, and some are demanding that U.S. President Joe Biden fire Kerry, who is now serving as his special envoy on the climate crisis.

“People are talking about treason — and I don’t throw that word around a lot,” said Alaska’s Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. “John Kerry does all kinds of things that I can’t stand. But this is the one that broke the camel’s back.”

Sullivan, in a speech to the Senate, called on Kerry to resign. “It’s unclear why John Kerry would relay such information to the leaders of the largest sponsored terrorism in the world. The secret information was given to one of America’s most sworn enemies….undermining the interests of one of our most important allies, the State of Israel. If this is true, John Kerry needs to go.”

Kerry denied Zarif’s claim on Monday, writing on Twitter:  “I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened – either when I was Secretary of State or since.”

I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened – either when I was Secretary of State or since. https://t.co/BTOdFE1khW

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 26, 2021

“This is disgusting on many levels,” wrote Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. “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.”

Sen. Mitt Romney was quoted by Politico as saying that although the report is troubling, it must be examined for its veracity.

“It’s very troubling, and there needs to be full transparency to understand exactly what was done, by whom, for what purpose, and an accounting of what occurred,” said Romney, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We have one recording by an Iranian official, but this is something that has to be evaluated and looked into.”

This is not the first time that Kerry has been accused of colluding with Iran. In February, The Washington Times reported that Kerry and Robert Malley met with Zarif during the Trump presidency in efforts “to devise a political strategy to undermine the Trump administration.”

Malley was one of the key architects of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and is now Biden’s Iran envoy.

The report quoted an unnamed senior US official, who said that face-to-face meetings between Zarif and senior Democrats took place in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Kerry has admitted to meeting Zarif at least twice during the Trump administration. Former president Donal Trump said that Kerry should be prosecuted for the meetings under the Logan Act.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)