A report claims that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met with several officials of the Biden administration several years ago.
A meeting between Zarif and now Iran special envoy Robert Melay took place in 2019 after Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, The Washington Times reported on Sunday.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry also met with Zarif in the first few years of Trump’s presidency – which he publicly acknowledged. The report states that Ernest Moniz, the Obama-era Secretary of Energy, did just that.
The exact details of what was discussed at the meetings are not clear, a senior U.S. official told the newspaper, adding that Zarif’s goal is to “devise a political strategy to weaken the Trump administration.”
The source added that Zarif was considering gaining support for a nuclear deal with Iran – or a similar deal, if the next US president were a Democrat.
In May, Kerry and Moniz helped negotiate a 2015 Iran nuclear deal that reduced the country’s nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions.
Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed economic sanctions on Tehran.
Sources told the Times that Melayu, in his meeting with Zarif, urged Iranian officials to sit tight until 2021, when it was expected that the Democratic administration could return the deal.
Foreign Secretary Anthony Blink said last week that the U.S. was ready to resume talks with Iran on a deal between the two countries. Ready.
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