Former Secretary of State John Kerry has been secretly working to save the Iran nuclear deal as its renewal deadline approaches
- A Boston Globe report Friday said former Secretary of State John Kerry has been secretly meeting with world leaders to save the Iran nuclear deal.
- The US has until May 12 to withdraw from the policy.
- President Donald Trump has not announced whether the US will renew the deal, but reports indicate he is leaning toward scrapping it.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting with world leaders in an effort to save the Iran nuclear deal ahead of its May 12 renewal deadline, The Boston Globe reported Friday.
Kerry has met with multiple officials - including Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and leaders from France, Germany, and the European Union - in an effort to save the policy he helped negotiate as part of former President Barack Obama's administration, according to The Globe.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been skeptical of the arrangement since its implementation and is reportedly looking to scrap the deal. World leaders, like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, have privately and publicly urged Trump to renew the deal, but he has not yet announced a final decision.
"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 Globe. "Of course, former secretaries of state often remain quite engaged with foreign leaders, as they should, but it's rarely so issue-specific, especially when they have just left office."
Friday's report came out nearly a week after Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu publicly accused Iran of "brazenly lying" about its nuclear arsenal in a bid to guide Trump's decision after his meetings with European leaders left them unconvinced he would renew the deal.
The White House did not respond to The Globe's request for comment.