Buried fairly deep in the New York Times’ story about a leaked tape that shows Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, describing a rivalry with a powerful and widely revered military leader, Qasem Soleimani:
Former Secretary of State John Kerry informed [Zarif] that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times, to his astonishment, Mr. Zarif said.
Was it official U.S. policy to inform the Iranian government — most certainly not an ally — about the covert military actions of the Israeli government — most certainly an ally? Was this an Obama administration initiative designed to win over the Iranians by spilling the beans on the Israelis, or was this John Kerry freelancing and just blurting out whatever he had been told in his classified briefings?
Just what was the objective of telling the Iranian government this? (The Iranians probably suspected the Israelis in all 200 or so cases, anyway.)