President Donald Trump on Monday condemned what he called the “shadow diplomacy” of former Secretary of State John Kerry, borrowing a phrase from a Boston Globe report last week on Kerry’s continued advocacy on behalf of the Iran nuclear deal.
The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2018
The Globe reported that Kerry and others were engaged in “shadow diplomacy” with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, top European Union official Federica Mogherini and others including French President Emmanuel Macron.
One source quoted by the Globe noted the effort was kept quiet in part to avoid a spiteful reaction from Trump, who has long opposed the nuclear deal.
After repeatedly affirming that Iran had complied with the deal, which requires the President’s sign-off every 120 days, Trump decertified the deal in October, citing Iran’s violations of the “spirit” of the agreement. Still, Congress did not take the opportunity to reinstate sanctions on Iran. And in January, Trump continued waiving sanctions on Iran.
The President has threatened to nuke the deal and reinstate sanctions on the next deadline, May 12.