Iran’s overseas minister, in leaked tape, says Revolutionary Guard units insurance policies

Written by Farnaz Fassihi
In a leaked audiotape that gives a glimpse into the behind-the scenes energy struggles of Iranian leaders, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated the Revolutionary Guard name the photographs, overruling many authorities choices and ignoring recommendation.
In one extraordinary second on the tape that surfaced Sunday, Zarif departed from the reverential official line on Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Guard’s elite Quds Force, the foreign-facing arm of Iran’s safety equipment, who was killed by the United States in January 2020.
The normal, Zarif stated, undermined him at many steps, working with Russia to sabotage the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and adopting insurance policies towards Syria’s lengthy conflict that broken Iran’s pursuits.
“In the Islamic Republic, the military field rules,” Zarif stated in a three-hour taped dialog that was part of an oral historical past challenge documenting the work of the present administration. “I have sacrificed diplomacy for the military field rather than the field servicing diplomacy.”
The audio was leaked at a important second for Iran, because the nation is discussing the framework for a attainable return to a nuclear cope with the United States and different Western powers. Talks by intermediaries have been going down in Geneva.
It is unclear what impact, if any, the revelations may have on these talks, or on Zarif’s place.
The recording, of a dialog between Zarif and an economist named Saeed Leylaz, an ally, was not meant for publication, because the overseas minister can repeatedly be heard saying on the audio. A duplicate was leaked to the London-based Persian information channel Iran International, which first reported on the recording and shared it with The New York Times.

On it, Zarif confirms what many have lengthy suspected: that his position because the consultant of the Islamic Republic on the world stage is severely constricted. Decisions, he stated, are dictated by the supreme chief or, regularly, the Revolutionary Guard.
Iran’s overseas ministry didn’t dispute the authenticity of the recording however questioned the motive for the leak. Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesperson for the ministry, referred to as it “unethical politics” and stated the portion of the audio launched didn’t symbolize the total scope of Zarif’s feedback about his respect and love for Soleimani.
In the parts that have been leaked, Zarif does reward the overall and says they labored productively collectively within the prelude to the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. He additionally says that by assassinating him in Iraq, the United States delivered a serious blow to Iran, extra damaging than if it had worn out a whole metropolis in an assault.
But he stated a few of Soleimani’s actions additionally broken the nation, citing, as one instance, his strikes towards the nuclear deal Iran reached in 2015 with Western nations, the United States amongst them (the Trump administration later renounced it).
Zarif stated Russia didn’t need the settlement to succeed and “put all its weight” behind creating obstacles as a result of it was not in Moscow’s pursuits for Iran to normalize relations with the West. To that finish, Zarif stated, Soleimani traveled to Russia to “demolish our achievement,” which means the nuclear deal.
Zarif took subject with Soleimani on different fronts, criticizing him for permitting Russian warplanes to fly over Iran to bomb Syria and for transferring army tools and personnel to Syria on the state-owned Iran Air airline with out the information of the federal government and deploying Iranian floor forces to Syria.
By Sunday night time, Zarif’s critics have been calling for his resignation, saying he had threatened Iran’s nationwide safety by revealing to the world the nation’s interior politics. Even his supporters expressed concern that the feedback might affect the presidential elections in late June and hurt candidates from the reform faction, which Zarif is related to, by reinforcing voter apathy and the concept that elected officers are usually not actually in cost.
The leak follows a sequence of safety breaches inside Iran’s intelligence and authorities circles which have been implicated in two assassinations and two explosions on the Natanz nuclear web site. A former vp, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, stated that the publication of Zarif’s audio was “tantamount to Israel stealing the nuclear documents” from Iran.
Some analysts stated the audio would undermine Iranian diplomats’ authority at a delicate window of the negotiations.
“This ties the hands of the negotiators,” stated Sina Azodi, a nonresident fellow on the Atlantic Council. “It represents Zarif as someone who is not trustworthy domestically, and overall paints a picture that Iran’s foreign policy is dictated by theater policies of the military and Zarif is a nobody.”
Zarif acknowledged on the tape that in relation to negotiations, he’s certain not simply by the instructions of the supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, however by the calls for of the Guard. He stated Khamenei had lately “forcefully rebuked” him for straying from the official line when he stated Iran was keen to work with the United States to choreograph steps towards returning to a deal.
“The structure of our foreign ministry is mostly security oriented,” Zarif stated.
Zarif stated he was saved in the dead of night on authorities actions — generally to his embarrassment.
On the night time that Iran determined to retaliate towards the United States for the killing of Soleimani, two Quds Force commanders went to see the Iraqi prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, to tell him that in about 45 minutes Iran would fireplace missiles at a army base the place U.S. troops have been stationed, Zarif stated. The Americans knew concerning the strike earlier than he did.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry knowledgeable him that Israel had attacked Iranian pursuits in Syria no less than 200 instances, to his astonishment, Zarif stated.
He additionally pointed to the cover-up of the Guard’s downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in Iran that killed 176 on board on the morning after Iran attacked the air base.
The Guard knew instantly that their missiles had hit the aircraft, however solely admitted to it three days later.
Soon after the aircraft was introduced down, Zarif attended a small assembly of the nationwide safety council with two prime army commanders, and stated the world was demanding an evidence. The commanders, he stated, attacked him and instructed him to ship out a tweet saying the information was not true.
“I said, ‘If it was hit by a missile, tell us so we can see how we can resolve it,’ ” Zarif recalled. “God is my witness, the way they reacted to me is as if I had denied the existence of God.”