A Fitting Coda to John Kerry’s Career Editors
The claim by Iran’s foreign minister that Secretary of State Kerry squealed to him about Israeli covert operations in Syria is not, considering the source, necessarily credible. Mohammad Javad Zarif is too oleaginous and wily — and hostile. Then again, too, Mr. Zarif’s allegation is susceptible to such a shocking interpretation that Mr. Kerry and President Biden at least owe their countrymen a full explanation.
The story comes from what the New York Times calls a “leaked audiotape.” It is, the Times reports, of a conversation last month between Mr. Zarif and an economist and ally, Saeed Leylaz. The tape, the Times says, was leaked to a London-based news channel, Iran International, which shared it with the Times. The Times reckons the tape was not meant for publication — or, at least, Mr. Zarif says as much on the audio.
The Times focuses on the glimpse the tape provides into the “behind-the-scenes power struggles of Iranian leaders.” Mr. Zarif complains that the Revolutionary Guards Corps “call the shots,” as the Times summarizes his remarks, “overruling many government decisions and ignoring advice.” The Times notes that in “one extraordinary moment” Mr. Zarif “departed from the reverential official line” on Qassim Suleimani.
Suleimani was the Iranian general whom America, in January 2020, slew with a drone. The Trump administration had caught Suleimani traveling in violation of U.N. sanctions. His vast operations had claimed hundreds of American lives. The Iranians are apparently flabbergasted or infuriated at Mr. Zarif’s remarks about the general. The Times reports that Iran’s foreign ministry isn’t disputing the authenticity of the recording.
Instead, it says the foreign ministry in Tehran is questioning the motive for the leak. The Times quotes a spokesman for the ministry as calling it “unethical politics” and says, as the Times put it, “the portion of the audio released did not represent the full scope of Mr. Zarif’s comments about his respect and love for General Suleimani.” Then again, too, Mr. Zarif’s remarks about the military undermine the entire Iran deal.
That’s because nobody — except Secretary Kerry — believes Mr. Zarif ever had standing to bind the hardliners who dominate the Iranian camarilla. The tape would seem to confirm that. It all makes for lively reading as the Biden administration scrambles to get back into the Iran deal in the face of a skeptical Congress, an Iranian regime enriching uranium beyond permitted levels, and an alarmed Israel.
As illuminating as all that might be, the Times somehow buried — nearly 1,000 words into its story — what, at least to us and several other papers, is the biggest news. Namely, an almost offhand remark by Mr. Zarif that Mr. John Kerry had informed Mr. Zarif that, as the Times paraphrases Mr. Zarif, “Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times, to his astonishment.”
Fox News put up a flash in a headline that said: “Iran’s Foreign Minister Says John Kerry Told Him About Israeli Covert Operations in Syria.” Its sub-headline said: “Kerry has previously been accused of colluding with Iranian leaders to undermine Trump administration.” The New York Post issued an op-ed under the headline: “John Kerry Is Skirting the Line of Treason With Iran.”
Late Monday, Mr. Kerry issued a tweet saying “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.” Congress would be wise to get Mr. Kerry to testify on that head. The first time he testified before the Foreign Relations Committee, after all, he echoed Viet Cong emissaries he’d met with in Paris. So putting Mr. Kerry under oath on this matter would be a fitting coda to his career.
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