A last-minute diplomatic initiative by Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) aimed at easing pressure on Iran was poorly coordinated and ultimately ended in failure, according to multiple administration and congressional sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon and provided previously unknown details about the senator’s rogue diplomacy with Tehran.
The New Yorker magazine disclosed that Paul attempted to broker a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, against the backdrop of a then-unrevealed decision by the Trump administration to sanction Iran’s top diplomat for propagandizing on behalf of Iran’s Supreme Leader.
However, multiple U.S. officials closely involved in Iran diplomacy have painted a different picture, describing the meeting as a unilateral initiative by Paul that was not broadly coordinated with key figures in the Trump administration, and which failed in part because of that lack of coordination.
“Senator Paul’s effort clearly failed as there was no White House meeting between the President and Foreign Minister Zarif, and Zarif is now sanctioned,” a State Department spokesperson told the Free Beacon in the clearest statement to date that Paul’s diplomacy was not sanctioned by top administration figures. – READ MORE