Editorial: Kerry’s ‘shadow diplomacy’ with Iran is collusion of the Logan Act kind

by WorldTribune Staff, September 23, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump will face “an extra formidable” Iran at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly thanks, in large part, to former Secretary of State John Kerry, The Washington Times said in a Sept. 17 editorial.

“Defiance and dirty dealing from an enemy is expected, collusion with an enemy to reinforce its effrontery is not,” the editorial said.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry. / AP

While promoting his book, “Every Day is Extra”, Kerry admitted he since leaving office has met several times with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. Kerry said he offered Zarif advice on how to combat the Trump administration’s hard-line Iran policy.

Kerry’s “scheming to help Iran defeat renewed sanctions smells of the Logan Act prohibition against unauthorized persons negotiating with foreign governments,” the editorial said.

Kerry’s shadow diplomacy “is designed to foil the president’s aims in dialing back Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” the editorial said, adding that Kerry “had his chance to quell the Islamic republic’s threats, and blew it. He only delayed dealing effectively with them. His continued attempts in overtime only weaken America.”

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, which involved Kerry as a major player, in May.

“It’s not hard to imagine Kerry’s disappointment in seeing his crowning achievement undone, but in high-stakes diplomacy there are no participation trophies for second place,” the editorial said. “The inescapable fact is that the deal he crafted enriched the mullahs with hundreds of billions of dollars and would have granted them the opportunity to threaten the world with nuclear weapons within a decade. It was a deadly deal now killed graveyard dead.”

Iran has rejected Trump’s offer to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the UN this week, “which is not surprising in light of the Kerry campaign against the United States,” the editorial said.

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Kerry had said: “The United States historically has not had a great record in regime change strategies.That makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for any Iranian leader to sit down and negotiate anything because they’re not going to do it in a capitulatory situation.”

“Those words could have come from the mouth of an Iranian diplomat,” the editorial noted, adding that so Kerry’s comments in an interview with Fox News in which he said “I think everybody in the world is sitting around talking about waiting out President Trump.”

The editorial concluded: “It’s not clear which nation’s interests Kerry is serving – America’s or Iran‘s. He should retire to his bicycle and try not to crash again. The former secretary of state had his moment in the limelight, with results similar to those when he ran, with great lack of success, for president. He should remember Abraham Lincoln’s observation: ‘A nation divided against itself cannot stand.’ ”


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