A recent revelation that John Kerry communicated sensitive intel to Iran about Israeli military operations in Syria led to calls for him to resign. But the denials from Kerry and the left-wing merely emphasize how bad the accusations are. 

Zarif: Kerry told him about Israeli strikes in Syria

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that a leaked videotape showed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a three-hour interview with an economist named Saeed Leylaz. 

In the interview, Zarif made many shocking revelations. But one of the most shocking was his admission that Former Secretary of State John Kerry informed him that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times. If true, this would mean that Kerry leaked sensitive intelligence to an enemy nation that was damaging to a US ally.

The video, recorded in March, was not intended for immediate publication. It was supposed to be held until August when President Hassan Rouhani leaves office.  A copy was leaked to the London-based Persian news channel Iran International, which first reported on the recording and shared it with The New York Times. Iran’s foreign ministry significantly did not dispute the authenticity of the recording but, rather, questioned the motive for the leak. 

Iran confirms Zarif told the truth  but Kerry denies the claim

What is, perhaps, most disturbing is that Zarif did not specify when Kerry told him about the Israeli strikes in Syria. Kerry could have passed on this sensitive intel when he was meeting with Zarif as the US Secretary of State under Obama. Alternatively, and far more egregious, is the possibility that Kerry passed on this sensitive intel after he left office and while he was a private citizen. Kerry admitted meeting with Zarif in 2018 in an effort to resurrect the Iran deal that he had brokered in 2015 and President Trump had scrapped in 2018. The shadow negotiations shocked many as it was a former official working to undermine the explicit policy of the current administration. President Trump suggested that Kerry’s actions may have violated the Logan act, a suggestion that would take on even more weight should it become clear that Kerry passed on sensitive security intel to Zarif that endangered Israel.

Despite Zarif’s explicit revelations about Kerry being on video and despite the implicit Iranian admission of the veracity of the claim, Kerry contradicted these proofs, claiming that Zarif’s statements were false.

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. https://t.co/BTOdFE1khW

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 26, 2021

State Department spokesperson Ned Price dismissed the accusations while contradicting Kerry’s own denial.

“I would just make the broad point that if you go back and look at press reporting from the time, this certainly was not secret, and governments that were involved were speaking to this publicly, on the record,” he said in response to a reporter’s question at a briefing on Monday.  

Israel did, in fact, admit to carrying out over 200 airstrikes in Syria, mostly targeting Iranian military assets. But this admission came in 2018 when Kerry was already out of office. Price’s statement seems to imply that Kerry was discussing sensitive military intel with Iran after Israel’s admission and while he was a private citizen.

Condemnation: Criminal act

Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, did not accept Kerry’s denial, stating that Zarif;’s revelation implicated the current president as well.

This is disgusting on many levels. Biden and Kerry have to answer for why Kerry would be tipping off Iran, the number one sponsor of terror, while stabbing one of our greatest partners, Israel, in the back. https://t.co/ZLWnQRZkrG

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) April 26, 2021

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) was one of several senators who called for Kerry’s resignation on Monday.

In his criticism of Kerry, Sullivan emphasized that as the current special envoy for climate, Kerry is currently a member of President Biden’s National Security Council and is in a position to pass on even more military secrets.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called for Kerry to be prosecuted. 

“This is a criminal act and John Kerry must be immediately investigated and PROSECUTED. President Biden must immediately remove John Kerry from any government or advisory position,” she tweeted.

This is a criminal act and John Kerry must be immediately investigated and PROSECUTED.

President Biden must immediately remove John Kerry from any government or advisory position.https://t.co/lO7ReFVCZS

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) April 26, 2021

Kerry: Radical Left

Mark Zell,  chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, emphasized that this revelation about Kerry’s past should be taken as a warning of what might be happening right now.

“Even as early as the 2008 campaign, Obama made it clear that his agenda was to empower the Iranians,” Zell noted. “This was reinforced by his appointees, many of whom were brought back by Biden. The Obama administration admittedly lied and cheated to get the Iran deal through. They were fanatical about it so it is no surprise that Kerry went this far to endear himself to Zarif.”

Zell warned of the danger that such subterfuge may happen again as the revelation comes while the Biden administration is negotiating to reinstate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran deal.

“The Biden administration is currently in talks to renew the deal,” Zell said. “This revelation about Kerry should be taken as an alarm bell to the potential dangers of the ongoing Biden-led negotiations with Iran.”

David Rubin, the author of Confronting Radicals: What America can learn from Israel,  received the news with equanimity, noting that as a member of the radical left, it should be expected that Kerry would act against Israel and his own country’s interests.

“John Kerry is part of the radical left,” Rubin asserted. “The radical left is ideologically anti-Israel. The radical left used to love Israel because of its socialist roots. But when Israel recognized the fallacies of socialism and became a free market, they became anti-Israel. John Kerry served in Vietnam but after the war, he joined the radical left and even testified against his fellow servicemen.”

“Just as he worked against US interests then, he is working against US interests by revealing Israeli military intel to Iran. This harms US strategic interests in the region, strengthening the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the region at a time that Iran is still supporting militias in Iraq that are actively attacking US servicemen. It is harming the developing relationships between moderate Arab states and the US and Israel.”

“But more importantly, he is working against US values and beliefs by strengthening Iran,” Rubin said. “The radical secular left has a bizarre alliance with radical Islam which seems to contradict many of their core values. Kerry typifies this and this is the basis for his rejection of Israel and is working to strengthen Iran.” 

But Kerry has Jewish roots…

Kerry’s personal motivations are the subject of speculation. In 2014, Kerry was accused by some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet of basing his politics on anti-Semitic inclination. Kerry admitted that shortly before he ran for president in 2003, he learned that his grandfather changed his family name from Kohn and converted to Catholicism before coming to the US in 1905. 

“It’s a connection that’s deep. I lost a great-uncle in the Holocaust and a great-aunt. I never knew that until then. To learn that, after years of being passionate about ‘never again,’ with respect to the Holocaust, and then to understand that you are biologically and personally connected to that, is very moving,” he said in an interview aired on Israel’s Channel 2.

“Israel itself has a special connection to me, not just because of that personal, now-known connection, but more importantly because of the amazing journey of the Jewish people,” he said in the interview. “And now I’ve learned that I have got a better sense of that.”

Kerry’s claim that his Jewish roots would prevent him from pursuing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policies becomes highly suspect when viewed in light of his efforts that go well beyond his official duties to strengthen Iran’s nuclear program, a program they openly admit is geared towards eradicating the Jewish state. 

Kerry has also gone on record saying that the obstacle to a negotiated agreement between Israel and the Palestinians are the Jews living in Judea and Samaria. Kerry advocates for the “two-state solution” which calls for the creation of an Arab political entity in Judea and Samaria that has been ethnically cleansed of Jews and has an ethnically cleansed capital in Jerusalem. This would create a region similar to Gaza in the heart of Israel. 

There is no shortage of anti-Israel Jews. One of the most generous supporters of the most viciously anti-Israel organization is billionaire George Soros, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. J-Street, one of the organizations he supports, recently hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at their annual conference. Abbas’ doctoral thesis was explicitly focused on denying the Holocaust and Abbas’ political party directly funds terrorists based on how many Jews they killed.

Zarif’s other shocking revelations

Zarif made several other remarkable revelations in the leaked video. Zarif stated that the Revolutionary Guards Corps(IRGC), headed by  Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, called the shots, overruling many government decisions and ignoring advice, a claim that contradicted what the Obama administration told the US public during the Iran deal negotiations. Zarif nonetheless praised Gen. Suleimani, saying that by assassinating him in Iraq, the United States (i.e. the Trump administration) “delivered a major blow to Iran, more damaging than if it had wiped out an entire city in an attack.”

Zarif also discussed the cover-up of the IRGC downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in Iran that killed 176 on board on the morning after Iran attacked a US airbase in Iraq.

The leaked video had immediate repercussions for Zarif. Similar to what was happening to Kerry in the US, his critics called for his resignation, accusing him of endangering Iran’s national security by revealing to the world the country’s inner politics. A former vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, said that the publication of Mr. Zarif’s audio was “tantamount to Israel stealing the nuclear documents” from Iran.