US Secretary of State John Kerry has conceded that he lost the argument to use US military force in Syria, and he's expressed deep frustration with US policy there.
He was speaking to a group of Syrians in New York, and he was unaware that his comments were being recorded.
The tape presents a fascinating insight into the thinking of America's top diplomat, in a week that has seen more astonishing bloodshed in Aleppo.
Our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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The tape reveals the private thinking of John Kerry…unplugged and unafraid to express his mind.
America's top diplomat speaking undiplomatically at a closed door meeting at the Dutch mission to the United Nations that he had no idea was being recorded.
The tapes published by the New York Times reveal a man expressing deep angst over his inability to persuade other members of the Obama Cabinet…and the President himself…to launch military action against Syria's President Bashar al Assad.
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I've lost the argument he says to a roomful of Syrian civilians….the tape leaked to the New York Times.
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Things did indeed.
This was John Kerry three years ago threatening a US assault on Damascus after reports of the Syrian army's first use of chemical weapons.
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But that accountability never materialized….President Obama cancelled plans to use force…in large part because the House of Commons wouldn't give then Prime Minister David Cameron support to join a military strike.
Now, John Kerry sounds like a man deeply frustrated….and furious with the Russians …
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He told the Syrians there's no way the US can take military action because Moscow has Washington tied up in knots at the UN Security Council.
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After a week that has witnessed appalling scenes of Syrian government-inspired carnage in Aleppo, Mr. Kerry is only able to tell his audience there is no public backing in America for any kind of action.
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One member of his audience asks him how many Syrians have to die before the US will intervene.
The Secretary of State, with a sigh, says there can only now be a political solution and he tells the Syrians they must prepare for the prospect - unthinkable to them - of perhaps one day battling President Bashar al Assad at the ballot box.
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