Former US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday denied allegations that he informed the Iranian Foreign Minister of Israeli operations in Syria during his time in office, Fox News reports.
“I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened - either when I was Secretary of State or since,” Kerry wrote in a statement posted to Twitter.
The comments followed leaked audio recordings of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in which he alleged that Kerry told him that Israel had struck around 200 Iranian targets in Syria.
Zarif admitted he was shocked by the purported admission, as reported by The New York Times.
The former Secretary of State has come under fire in the past for his meetings with Javad Zarif in an effort to save the 2015 Iran deal, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
Kerry admitted to holding the meetings, but justified his actions by saying that "every" former Secretary of State meets with foreign leaders. He also claimed that others were advising Iran to wait out the Trump administration as well.
During Trump’s time in office, Kerry consistently ripped him, particularly over the President’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
In November of 2017, Kerry warned Congress that it would be "extraordinarily dangerous" for it to reject the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
He subsequently warned that Trump risked driving Iran towards nuclear proliferation if he cancels the deal.