Iranian Foreign Minister Khamenei scolds leaked audio tape | News of Soleimani’s murder

Tehran, Iran – Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has publicly reprimanded the Iranian diplomat for his comments on power struggles in a controversial audio tape leaked last week.

Khamenei said in a televised speech on Sunday that he was “surprised and sorry” to hear Mohammad Javad Zarif’s late comments General Qassem Soleimanipower and influence, without directly appointing the diplomat.

“Some of these comments are a repetition of our enemy’s enemy speeches, a repetition of American words,” he said, noting that the anti-Iranian media released the tape.

He spent more than three hours on a seven-hour secretive government oral history project with the Saudi-funded Iran International channel based in London.

On the tape, Zarif said he had to do it again and again Diplomacy “sacrificed” He refers to it as the “field” – it represents operations and policies driven by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and specifically the Quds Force led by Soleimani until the U.S. assassination last year.

Zarif also says Soleimani traveled to Russia shortly after Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 to sabotage it, and complained that it was left in the dark on many issues, including Iran’s operations in Syria and Iraq.

Khamenei said on Sunday that the U.S. was opposed to increasing influence in the Iranian region on Sunday, and said that was why former President Donald Trump had ordered it. Soleimani’s murder In January 2020 through a drone strike in Baghdad.

“We don’t have to say things that would convey the meaning we are repeating what we are saying, whether in the Quds Force or on the martyr Soleimani,” the chief said.

He also affirmed that as in all other parts of the world, Iran’s foreign policy is not made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that it alone fulfills it.

This task in Iran, he said, is in the hands of the Supreme National Security Council, which is made up of senior officials from different governing factions.

The end of Zarif?

Khamenei’s remarks will no doubt exacerbate the hardships that have been unstoppable for the foreign minister and the government and his resignation.

It seems unlikely that Zarif will resign, especially since he has ended his term in a few months and is talking to him. restore the nuclear deal They are constantly in Vienna, reprimanded by top leaders for overshadowing their future in Iranian politics.

The foreign minister, a fairly well-known figure in the weakness of the centrist and reformist parties, has repeatedly said he has no plans to run in the upcoming June presidential election.

The career diplomat had previously said that he might be interested in continuing to serve in the foreign ministry or else return to a university teaching position.

Earlier in the day, Zarif apologized to Soleimani’s family for the pain it could have caused, saying “honest” words to future officials do not detract from Soleiman’s efforts to keep Iran and the region safe.

In a line posted a few days earlier, he said his comments were not meant to be a personal criticism of Soleimani, who sought to establish peace in Afghanistan and Iraq and fight the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

Zarif posted another online post after Khamenei’s speech, saying the top leader’s remarks are the end of all discussions and he feels the “honest transfer of experiences” meant leaking comments and disturbing Khamenei’s calm.

President Rouhani said earlier in the week that the leaking of the audio tape was an attempt to sow divisions in the country’s enemies, sabotaging multilateral efforts in the Austrian capital to remove sanctions against Iran and reduce the country’s nuclear program.

Rouhani has instructed his intelligence ministry to find out who leaked the tape, and similar efforts are being made in the judiciary and parliament.

The president also released Hesamodin Ashna, his adviser and head of the Center for Strategic Research in the presidential offices, since he was in charge of organizing an interview with Zarif.