A small cadre of former Obama administration officials have been
counseling Iranian Government officials since 2016 on how to deal with the
Trump administration, according to the Daily Beast, which notes that
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zerif has been involved in the ongoing
discussions.
The message? “Don’t take Trump’s bait. Stay calm.”
“Conversations between former
Obama officials and Iranian government officials have been ongoing since
November 2016. Zarif, who visits the U.S. every year for the U.N. General
Assembly in New York, usually meets with lawmakers, think tanks, journalists,
and former officials when he is in town.”
“But the recent round of conversations, which took place over the
phone and in person over the last two months, came as lines of communication
between the U.S. and Iran, through intermediaries in Europe and elsewhere,
deteriorated.”
“It’s not just about what they were saying to the Iranians,” an
aide told the Beast. “It’s about what they were saying to their political
allies back here in the U.S. Their strategy was to divide and isolate the Trump
administration just as the Trump administration was trying to re-establish
deterrence with Iran. In the current highly partisan political environment, the
only safe course is to signal national unity—and they contributed to eroding
that at home and abroad.”
In September, former Secretary of State John Kerry admitted to meeting with
Zarif “three or four times” since Donald Trump took office, a move which drew
condemnation from conservatives who said Kerry was “coaching” the Iranian FM on
how to deal with the White House.
In response, some Republican lawmakers levied charges that Kerry is engaged in rogue
diplomacy and is undermining the active, elected administration.
Kerry defended the meetings, saying: “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.”
Tensions between the US and Iran have increased recently, after
Iran warned that it would increase its stockpile of nuclear-related materials –
though the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a quarterly report seen
on Friday by the Wall Street Journal that Tehran remains in compliance with its
main commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement. On May 8, the one-year
anniversary of President Trump pulling out of the nuclear deal, Iran said that
it would begin to scale up its nuclear program, and would disregard limits on
its stockpiles of enriched uranium and heavy water.
Iran has rebuffed Trump’s calls to come back to the negotiating
table for a new, stricter nuclear accord – and has slammed US sanctions which
have sent the Iranian economy into a deep recession.
And now we learn that former Obama administration officials have
been advising Iran this whole time.
“Three Obama officials who
worked closely on the Iran nuclear deal, one of whom is still in touch with
Iranian government officials, traveled to Capitol Hill to brief congressional
Democrats about the situation. Those former officials said would not say if
they passed information from Iranian government officials to members of
Congress. Rather, they said they focused on educating members about their
experience working with Iranian leaders and how Tehran reacts to economic
pressure.”
“Several former officials stressed
that their discussions with their Iranian contacts were ‘normal.’ But in other
corners, these kind of talks cause alarm. A Republican congressional aide who
works on Iran policy said the conversations may run counter to the Trump
administration’s messaging to the Iranian government.”
“Former Obama administration officials gave wrong-headed advice to
the regime in Iran that U.S. sanctions couldn’t work without European support
and that the regime should just wait out the Trump administration,” according
to Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the DC-based think tank Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, which has advised the Trump administration on Iran policy. “Now
with U.S. sanctions biting and the Islamic Republic facing an economic crisis,
they’d be wise to tell their Iranian counterparts to return to negotiations.
Bipartisan support for efforts to block the Islamic Republic’s malign
activities strengthens American security.”
Others have defended, or at least downplayed the discussions.
“The communications are not surprising because of the lack of
direct contact between the U.S. and Iran. The urgency is greater now. There is
a sense of, let’s make sure that there is some channel open,” said Dalia Dassa
Kaye, director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the Rand
Corporation. “But it’s not clear that they are talking to Iranians that are
making the ultimate decisions in the country. It’s not clear that those talking
to each other, those in the room, are representing the realities on the ground
in their respective countries.”
“One former official who worked
on the Obama administration’s Iran policy told The Daily Beast he spoke with
Iranian government officials as recently as a few weeks ago, as tensions were
cresting. His message, he said, was simple: The Trump administration can
escalate things plenty all by itself; the Iranians shouldn’t take the bait,
fuel the fire, and move things from bad to worse by, for example, pulling
completely out of the nuclear deal.”
“Another former senior Obama
administration official, who said he was not himself aware of the conversations,
called the talks ‘neither unusual nor particularly consequential.'”
“‘Exaggerating their
significance lends undue credence to those cynically blaming others for their
own failing approach,’ the ex-official said.”
“Separately, some former Obama
officials are trying to keep the roots of the Iran nuclear deal alive by taking
the pulse of lawmakers on Capitol Hill to gauge whether they are in favor of
restarting talks in the future. They are also speaking to officials in Europe
who are concerned about their long-term ability to trade with Iran and stick to
the terms of the Iran nuclear deal, all while attempting to avoid U.S.
sanctions. Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)—formerly the chair of the
Senate Intelligence Committee—had dinner with Zarif ‘a few weeks ago,’
according to a Politico report published May 23."
Will the 1799 Logan Act be invoked, which made unauthorized
diplomacy with foreign powers by a private citizen illegal?
Trump goes on offense — filing
suit against Cummings and Democrats who want to continue investigating Trump
and hinting that John Kerry violated the Logan Act by working with Iran.