(AP/Brian Snyder) (AP/Brian Snyder)
Kerry Zarif

If what a senior Iranian cleric says is true, an astounding remark by John Kerry wishing the US had a leader like Khamenei emphasizes the mistakes the US administration is making while trying to seal a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. 

Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly told Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that he wished the United States had a leader like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

The Iranian Asriran news site reports that Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda, a senior Iranian cleric, said during Friday prayers that during the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, Kerry told Zarif that he “wished the US had a leader like Iran’s supreme leader.”

The Iranian cleric allegedly added that US President Barack Obama was set on striking a deal with Iran by June.

“Both Republicans and Democrats want these negotiations with Iran, but they fight each other for partisan interests,” he is quoted as saying. “Obama wants the negotiations to succeed so his party can win the next election and Republicans want to stop him.”

A senior US official told the Free Beacon that such an argument is “patently absurd.”

These remarks were the latest in a string of comments made by Iranian leaders purporting to reveal private details of the talks, according to the Free Beacon. Iranian newspapers have carried multiple stories in recent months suggesting that Zarif was ordered to stop screaming at Kerry behind closed doors.

Al-Hoda also celebrated Iran’s military expansion in the region and into Yemen.

“Today, the resistance crescent has gone beyond Syria and Lebanon and reached to Yemen,” he stated. “Today the resistance front is in control of the Straits of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb.”

US Weakness Derided by Iran

The “US and Israel have not been so weak anytime before,” he continued. “All these events are being managed by the hidden Imam,” the revered religious figure in Shia Islam.

An expert on Iran concurred with the cleric’s remarks on the effect of the seemingly weak US policy in the Middle East. Iranian dissident Saeed Ghasseminejad of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told the Free Beacon that the conduct of the Obama administration is generating Iranian ridicule.

“President Obama thinks that by making more concessions, he can gain the trust and respect of Iranian leaders,” Ghasseminejad said. “However, Iranian leaders neither trust him nor respect him.”

“Seeing unprecedented weakness in the US president, Iranian leaders do not fear the United States anymore. Partnership, trust, and alliance between the radical Islamist regime of Tehran and the United States cannot and should not exist,” he concluded.

By: United with Israel Staff
(With files from the Free Beacon)

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