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'Mouthpiece for the Enemy': Why Was Dianne Feinstein on the Phone with the Iranian Foreign Minister?

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As you no doubt know if you’ve been watching the news these past few days, there’s been a bit of a showdown in the Persian Gulf between Iran and the United States.

Iran was likely behind the attack on four oil tankers in the Gulf last weekend, which led to the United States removing some of its diplomatic staff from Baghdad. They also sent U.S. destroyers through the Gulf in a show of force; The New York Times reports that the Iranians have unloaded missiles from several small boats in territorial waters, leading some to believe that tensions are ratcheting down. Still, the Iranians were saber-rattling as ever; Iranian state media quoted the chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying that “Even our short-range missiles can easily reach (U.S.) warships in the Persian Gulf,” according to Reuters.

This is a pretty tense situation best handled by the Pentagon and the Trump administration, one would say. That’s why this tidbit from Politico on Thursday caught our eye:

“SPOTTED: SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-Calif.), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, walking around the Capitol with her iPhone screen facing outward in full view, and Javad Zarif’s contact page on the screen. Zarif is the name of Iran’s foreign minister,” Politico reported.

So, in the midst of a crisis, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee — an individual who finds herself diametrically opposed to President Trump more often than not — was talking to Iran’s foreign minister.

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Fox News host and radio pundit Mark Levin thought this may have told us a bit more about Feinstein, aside from the fact that she was an iOS user.

“He’s the foreign minister to an enemy state that seeks to attack American military personnel in the Middle East, that seeks to put nuclear warheads on ICBMs so they can reach the United States. It is a terrorist regime, an Islamo-Nazi regime in Tehran, that has killed Americans, that funds Hezbollah to kill Americans, that funds Hamas to kill, and is a threat to our national security, obviously,” Levin said on his Thursday radio show.

“What in the hell is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee doing talking on an iPhone around the Capitol to Javad Zarif?”

Do you think Dianne Feinstein's phone call with Javad Zarif was appropriate?

Well, the answer might lie in a statement she issued in which she urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to talk to Jarif.

“In the last few days, the United States has moved additional military forces to the region and has signaled a willingness to reposition tens of thousands more. Iran-backed Houthis have claimed credit for a recent attack against Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure. And suspicions behind who attacked oil tankers moving through the Straits of Hormuz have fallen on Tehran,” she said in the statement.

“War isn’t necessary to solve a problem when both sides want a solution. I urge Secretary Pompeo to reach out to Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who I know doesn’t want to see a conflict with the United States.

“We should do everything possible to prevent an unnecessary war, beginning with immediately reopening diplomatic channels and toning down the rhetoric.”

The statement was released at 2:57 p.m. Wednesday, Politico reported. While it’s not entirely clear from Politico’s reporting that it followed her call with the Iranian ambassador, Levin’s Conservative Review said that it did — and it would certainly go to figure.

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“What is it with these Democrats fronting for this Islamo-Nazi regime that wants to kill Americans and Jews in Israel? You’ve got Frankenfeinstein, you’ve got … John Kerry — or the real Frankenstein — giving aid and comfort to the enemy!” Levin said. “It’s not enough that they released $150 billion to this regime; now they’re giving it advice, against the president of the United States. You want to talk about the Logan Act? You want to talk about collusion?”

“So now she’s a mouthpiece for the enemy,” Levin said. “A mouthpiece for the enemy. She sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. For years, she had a driver who was a communist spy for Red China. Her husband has done business — a lot of business — with Communist China. They’ve made a lot of money doing business with Communist China. … Anybody going to subpoena her about her phone call? Anybody going to subpoena her about her driver? Anybody going to subpoena her husband about his business dealings with Red China?

“Of course not,” he continued. “It all goes one way. Anybody going to subpoena her and question her about her contacts with the foreign minister of Iran and any other contacts she may have had, undermining this administration? Can you imagine? It’d be like WWII: You have FDR, and then you have senators contacting the Third Reich!”

Yet, most of the media has been silent on the phone call; after Politico reported it, it was met with silence by everyone aside from conservative media. As Levin noted, though, Donald Trump Jr. meets with a couple of Russians and all of a sudden the Trump campaign was trying to influence the election — I mean, except for the fact that Robert Mueller couldn’t find any evidence of collusion.

Iran is a dedicated enemy of the United States. It has attacked oil tankers and warned the United States that it could hit our warships with missiles if so desired. That’s pretty close to an enemy, one that’s threatening acts of war — certainly not just China. If the administration wants to call Zarif, that’s fine, though one would hope they didn’t reward the Iranians for their actions. For Dianne Feinstein to do it is all levels of inappropriate.

But you think anything’s going to come of it — especially when the media won’t even report it?

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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