“What Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department. Pompeo accused Kerry of engaging “with the world’s largest state sponsor of terror" and said the meetings were "inconsistent with the foreign policy of the United Sates."
Kerry on Wednesday admitted that since leaving office, he has secretly met at least four times with senior Iranian officials in an effort to "salvage" the Iranian nuclear deal. Kerry did not inform the Trump administration about the meetings, which took place Norway, Munich and elsewhere.
However, former US Secretary of State in a recent Twitter message advised US President Donald Trump to pay more attention to Paul Manafort's cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller than to his conversations with Iranians.
Mr. President, you should be more worried about Paul Manafort meeting with Robert Mueller than me meeting with Iran's FM. But if you want to learn something about the nuclear agreement that made the world safer, buy my new book, Every Day Is Extra: https://t.co/DKjc33Kvvuhttps://t.co/cesltkt0zW
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) 14 сентября 2018 г.
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal requires the international community to gradually remove sanctions against Iran in exchange for the Middle Eastern country accepting limits on and monitoring of its nuclear program.
READ MORE: Iran, Russia, Turkey Discussed Non-Dollar Trade at Summit in Tehran — Reports
In the wake of the US move, the other parties to the Iranian nuclear deal — Russia, Germany, China, France, Iran, the United Kingdom and the European Union — have reaffirmed their commitment to the agreement.