RUTHFULLY YOURS

Iran Firsters are a problem. They’re an even bigger problem when they’re running the government.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), hoping to quell speculation of wrongdoing, has formally responded to reports that he held a secret meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif last week. But his explanation may raise more questions than it answers.

The Federalist first reported Monday that Murphy and other Democratic senators held a “secret” meeting with Zarif last week at the annual Munich Security Conference. The news immediately began to circulate in the media and led to speculation as to whether Murphy had undermined U.S. foreign policy or even potentially violated the Logan Act by holding the meeting.

Tuesday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented on the reports, seeming to scold Murphy and his Democratic colleagues for meeting with Zarif, who, Pompeo noted, is “the foreign minister of a country that killed an American on December 27” and “is the largest world sponsor of terror and the world’s largest sponsor of anti-Semitism.”

Pompeo also noted Zarif’s status.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to the news of the meeting.

“This guy [Zarif] is designated by the United States of America,” Pompeo said at a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “He’s the foreign minister for a country that shot down a commercial airliner and has yet to turn over the black boxes. This is the foreign minister of a country that killed an American on December 27. And it’s the foreign minister of a country who is the largest world sponsor of terror and the world’s largest sponsor of anti-Semitism.”

Pompeo referred to the US treasury decision in July 2019 to designate Zarif for acting for the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. In April 2019, US President Donald Trump designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and its Quds Force, as a foreign terrorist organization.

After an alleged Israeli attack crippled thousands of centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz plant, Iran Firsters have been fuming.

The alleged Israeli attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility targeted an electrical substation located 40 to 50 meters underground and damaged “thousands of centrifuges,” Iranian officials revealed in recent days.

Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian media on Monday that the attack hit an electrical substation located deep underground and managed to damage both the power distribution system and the cable leading to the centrifuges in order to cut power to them.

The Iranian official stressed that such an operation takes years, saying “the design of the enemy was very beautiful.”

Now, Senator Murphy is demanding a “classified briefing on the Natanz incident” while ranting that, “there is no viable military path to divorcing Iran from a nuclear weapon.”

This was also Murphy’s response to the assassination of Iran’s nuclear chief Fakhrizadeh.

Senator Murphy has been backed by the Iran Lobby and appeared at its events. I would say that he’s the last person who should have a classified briefing about actions against Iran.

But he’s actually the next to last after Iran’s biggest ally in the Senate. That would be Joe Biden.