Pompeo accuses Kerry of ‘unprecedented’ meddling in U.S. foreign policy

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday blasted his predecessor, John Kerry, for holding “beyond inappropriate” private meetings with Iranian officials, asserting that Kerry was undermining U.S. foreign policy in an “unprecedented” manner.

Pompeo’s comments came after President Donald Trump alleged in a tweet that Kerry’s meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif were “illegal,” a claim Kerry has dismissed.

Story Continued Below

“What Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented,” Pompeo said in a short news conference at the State Department. “This is a former secretary of state engaged with the largest state sponsor of terror.”

He added: “You can’t find precedent for this in U.S. history. And Secretary Kerry ought not to engage in that kind of behavior.”

An aide to Kerry did not immediately offer a comment.

The former secretary of state has been defending his meetings with Zarif, which were first reported by The Boston Globe in May, during recent interviews to promote his new book, “Every Day is Extra.”

Kerry told radio host Hugh Hewitt this week that he’d met with Zarif “three or four times” since leaving office.

He acknowledged that the Iran nuclear deal, which Kerry helped negotiate during the Obama administration but which Trump quit this year, was among the topics discussed. Kerry also indicated that he and Zarif have talked about other U.S. concerns regarding Iran’s behavior in the Middle East.

“What I have done is tried to elicit from him what Iran might be willing to do in order to change the dynamic in the Middle East for the better,” Kerry said.

In an interview this week with Fox News, Kerry implied that he’s encouraged the Iranian government to wait out Trump until there is a Democratic president again.

“I think everybody in the world is talking about waiting out President Trump,” Kerry said.

Those comments, in particular, appeared to gall Trump, who tweeted Thursday: “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!”

Pompeo declined to say Friday if the meetings are illegal. Legal experts have cast doubt on the possibility that Kerry could be held liable, though they note it could depend on the specifics of the meetings.

But Kerry and his supporters have said it’s not unusual for former U.S. officials to meet with counterparts, including in venues such as international conferences.

Pompeo complained Friday about seeing Kerry and two other top Obama administration officials — a group he dubbed “the troika” — at a major security conference in Munich, Germany.

“I am reasonably confident,” he said, “that [Kerry] was not there in support of U.S. policy with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” which the U.S. recently blamed for being behind the recent rocket fire around the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and the rockets that hit the airport complex housing the U.S. Consulate in Basra, another Iraqi city.

The secretary of state also denied that the U.S. seeks “regime change” in Iran — as Kerry has suggested — adding, “We are very supportive of the Iranian people having the leadership that they want.”

Pompeo is close to Trump and takes pains to avoid contradicting the president in public.

He used his press appearance Friday to reiterate Trump administration warnings against other countries, such as Russia, not to interfere in U.S. elections. He also praised U.S. diplomats and urged lawmakers to quickly confirm nominees for top State Department roles.

Pompeo expressed confidence in Trump’s decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal, calling the agreement ineffective in barring all paths to nuclear weapons for Iran. He reiterated that the U.S. is taking seriously a Nov. 4 deadline to reimpose oil-related sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

“Make no mistake, come Nov. 4, there will be a fundamentally different set of rules with respect to anyone who deem it necessary to engage in economic activity with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo said.

The chief U.S. diplomat was also asked about the administration’s upcoming decision on how many refugees it would allow to be resettled in the United States in the coming year. He did not share a number, but said national security will be a major factor in setting the cap. The decision is due by Sept. 30.

“America will remain among the most generous nations with respect to taking persons from outside of our country,” Pompeo said. “I fully expect that will continue.”

According to a Pew Research Center study, America took fewer refugees than the rest of the world combined for the first time in 2017, when it admitted 33,000 refugees.