U.S. Senator, FM Zarif Had Dinner: Report

Date: 24 May 2019 - 22:04

News ID: ۶۶۳۵۲

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein had dinner with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, it was revealed Thursday morning.
The Senator’s team told Politico Playbook that the dinner between the two, which occurred a few weeks ago when Zarif was in the U.S., was "arranged in consultation with the State Department”.
"The office was in touch with State in advance of the meeting to let them know it was happening and to get an update on U.S.-Iran activity,” Feinstein’s office said.
She was also seen in an elevator at the Capitol recently with Zarif’s contact information pulled up on her iPhone.
An official with the Department of State, however, said they did ask Feinstein to have dinner with the Iranian diplomat.
Feinstein is the former chair and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and is currently in the minority as a Democratic member of the Senate.
Zarif is American-educated, and is the official who worked with former Secretary of State John Kerry on the divisive nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump announced the U.S. was withdrawing from in May 2018.
Trump called Iran the "number one provocateur of terror in this country”.
"They've been very hostile. Truly been the number one provocateur of terror in this country and representing their country, but certainly our country has been very much involved because we're trying to help a lot of people out and I don't mind that at all,” the president told reporters on the South Lawn as he left for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania Monday.
Over the weekend, Trump issued a threat to the Iranian nation.
"If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!” Trump posted to Twitter May 20.
Zarif hit back, claiming Trump had been "goaded” into "genocidal taunts”.
Trump "hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won't 'end Iran'. Never threaten an Iranian. Try respect-it works!” Zarif tweeted.