US Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Iran’s Foreign Minister in recent days to tell him that Teheran must answer questions about whether its past atomic research was arms-related if it wants a nuclear deal, officials said yesterday.
The telephone calls came after Kerry raised eyebrows among some Western officials by saying the US was “not fixated” on any past Iranian work, about which it already had “absolute knowledge,” and was looking to the future instead.
The officials have also voiced concern that Kerry was backing down on a crucial demand in the talks, one Teheran has consistently ignored, and said he was overstating US knowledge about Teheran’s past nuclear work in the interest of getting a deal at all costs.
A day after Kerry made those June 16 remarks, a State Department spokesman said the words of the top US diplomat had been misinterpreted and dismissed the idea that Washington had climbed down from previous demands that Teheran come clean about its nuclear past.
But two Western officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, were not persuaded by the State Department denial.
“I suspect he accidentally gave a window into his negotiating stance with the Iranians,” one official said. Critics say that Kerry’s intense involvement in the talks suggest that he is chasing an agreement, signalling an eagerness for a deal that the Iranians can exploit for concessions. The damage control went beyond the daily State Department briefings, during which reporters grilled new spokesman John Kirby on this issue for days. Kerry, officials told Reuters, called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to make sure he did not think Washington was letting Iran off the hook.
“Kerry called Zarif and told him the past does matter and the US was insisting that the PMD (possible military dimensions) issue be resolved in the negotiations,” a Western source close to the talks told Reuters.
An Iranian official said Kerry spoke to Zarif twice in recent days.
“There were two calls from Kerry to Zarif, during which he corrected his stance ... He told Mr. Zarif that he had been misunderstood and the past activities are important and should be clarified,” a senior Iranian official said.
“Also he said that Iran should come clean on the past activities. This is an issue being discussed.”
A senior US official confirmed that Kerry spoke to Zarif but denied there had been any shift in the US position on the need for Iran to come clean about its nuclear past.