Kerry Met With Iranian Foreign Minister in Bid to Save Nuclear Deal, Report Says

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif in an attempt to save the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, which was signed in 2015 when he was in office, the Boston Globe reported Saturday.

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Kerry and Zarif met two weeks ago at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the report said, noting that this was the second meeting between the two in the last two months.

Kerry was instrumental in formulating the deal with Iran, seen as one of his main achievements as secretary of state, a post he left more than a year ago.

Kerry reportedly also met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and with French President Emmanuel Macron and spoke on the phone with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

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“It is unusual for a former secretary of state to engage in foreign policy like this, as an actual diplomat and quasi-negotiator,” Michael O’Hanlon, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution, told the Boston Globe.

In the wake of the report, Donald Trump Jr., the U.S. president's son, shared Twitter posts criticizing Kerry, including one by Congressman Lee Zeldin that read: "Please stop playing Secretary of State Mr. Kerry. You weren't very good at it the 1st time around when you were actually the Secretary of State."

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce by May 12 whether he will recertify the Iran nuclear deal. He has declared that he will withdraw unless there are changes, such as limitations on Iran's ballistic missile program.

On Thursday, Zarif criticized Trump and said Iran has no intention to amend the nuclear deal.