Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has slammed a reportedly ‘secret’ meeting between Democrat Senators and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Katie Pavlich at Town Hall reported.
The comments were made in response to a report published in The Federalist claiming that Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and other Democrat senators met with Iranian foreign minister on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference held last week.
“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 said referring to Iranian Foreign Minister. “If they met, I don’t know what they said. I hope they were reinforcing America’s foreign policy and not their own.”
Senator Chris Murphy confirmed the meeting earlier today. “I met w[ith] the Iranian Foriegn Minister in Munich.” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s dangerous not to talk to adversaries, esp[ecially] amidst a cycle of escalation.”
Town Hall reported Secretary Pompeo’s response to the meeting:
Speaking to reporters during a joint press conference with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to reporting that a number of Democrat Senators secretly met with Iranian Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference.“I have seen that piece about some senators meeting with Foreign Minister Zarif. This guy is designated by the United States of America. 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 said. “If they met, I don’t know what they said. I hope they were reinforcing America’s foreign policy and not their own.”The news of the alleged secret Zarif meeting was first reported by Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist.”Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and other Democratic senators had a secret meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference last week, according to a source briefed by the French delegation to the conference. Murphy’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment by press time,” the outlet reported.Zarif was designated for sanctions by the Treasury Department last summer for sponsoring terrorism around the world.
The meeting took place at a time when Tehran has declared a ‘jihad’ against the United States. “The jihad of resistance will continue with a doubled motivation, and a definite victory awaits the fighters in the holy war,” Iran’s ‘Sureme Leader’ Ayatollah Khamenei said early January after a U.S. drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force and a designated terrorist group. Soleimani, directly responsable for the killing of hundreds of U.S. servicemen in Iraq, was plotting attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions at the time of the strike, the Pentagon revealed.
The judgment displayed by Senator Chris Murphy and his colleagues is not unique for leading Democrats. Former Secretary of State John Kerry also admitted meeting Iran’s Zarif several times since leaving office, and apparently advised Iranians to wait out the current President until a Democrat successor takes over the White House. “I think everybody in the world is talking about waiting out President Trump,” Kerry told the media in 2018 when asked about his talks with Iranians.
Pompeo: Iran Never Intended to Follow Nuclear Deal
[Cover image via YouTube]
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