Kerry quietly meets with Zarif in bid to salvage Iran deal

A Boston Globe report claimed Friday evening that former Secretary of State John Kerry has recently met with an Iranian official in order to save President Obama’s signature Iran nuclear deal.

The American daily newspaper writes that he sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings, Mehr news agency reports.

If the report is accurate, Kerry could have violated the Logan Act. The Logan Act, officially known as 18 U.S.C. §953, is "an old but rarely-invoked federal statute prohibiting unauthorized private diplomacy with foreign nations," according to the Federalist Society blog.