{"id":9083,"date":"2021-05-25T18:06:34","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=9083"},"modified":"2021-05-30T12:24:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T09:24:02","slug":"zarifs-leaked-tapes-suggest-irans-hardliners-are-preparing-to-sideline-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/reports\/zarifs-leaked-tapes-suggest-irans-hardliners-are-preparing-to-sideline-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Zarif\u2019s Leaked Tapes Suggest Iran\u2019s \u201cHardliners\u201d Are Preparing to Sideline Him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a series of leaked interview tapes, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made some rather off the cuff  remarks. The timing of the leak suggests that the intent  was  either to   advance Zarif\u2019s presidential bid in the upcoming election in June, or  to discredit  him before the race, or simply to stir public interest<\/a> in the election. On a closer look, the tapes could have also been leaked to put pressure on  global powers,  mainly the United States, to reach a quick agreement with Tehran over its nuclear file.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the  intent behind the leak, one thing is clear, Zarif is expendable. The leak was part of a three hour plus interview that Zarif gave to reporter Saeed Laylaz in March as part of the \u201cOral History\u201d program designed to safeguard the legacy of the Rouhani government, and it was meant to be archived by the Iranian Center for Strategic Research. It is not yet clear how the tapes were leaked but they bring to light a  powerless foreign minister whose position is rather meaningless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the tapes, Zarif admits to not having decision-making  powers in regard to  public diplomacy.  Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  criticized Zarif for his remarks by reminding him that the Foreign Ministry was an executor rather than a  pioneer of foreign policy<\/a> in most countries around the world including Iran. Another figure close to the leader, Mohammad Javad Larijani<\/a>, said Zarif suffered from narcissism. According to Larijani,  Zarif knows too well that he does not stand above the system which he represents, and that  the leaked tapes have dishonored  Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarif also claimed in the leaked tapes  that the nuclear talks leading to  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  in 2015 were frequently sabotaged by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and that he was left in the dark when IRGC military policies trumped diplomacy<\/a>. The supreme leader\u2019s advisor Ali Akbar Velayati offered Zarif some advice regarding this matter when he reminded  the foreign minister that diplomacy<\/a> without power never works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supreme leader\u2019s  loyalists blame Zarif for concluding a flawed nuclear deal in the first place which has not stood the test of time. According to them,  to salvage his legacy, Zarif  has  claimed that the IRGC and  Russia<\/a> tried to derail previous nuclear talks.   Also to discredit the IRGC,  Zarif implies that the late Quds Force Commander Soleimani<\/a> had no role in convincing Russia to  engage in the Syrian conflict. According to Zarif, the reverse might have happened.  Iran might have been  forced to deploy its forces to Syria in return for Russia\u2019s cooperation, thus leaving its own borders rather vulnerable.  The leaked tapes mention that Zarif was informed  during the course of the  previous nuclear talks by former US Secretary of State John Kerry<\/a> about frequent Israeli strikes against Iranian strongholds in Syria. These attacks pointed to a coordinated campaign between Israel and Russia to destroy Iran\u2019s military capabilities in Syria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the aftermath of the leaked tapes, Zarif attempted to limit the damage by arguing\u00a0that there should be effective coordination\u00a0between the diplomatic and\u00a0military fields,<\/a> in reference to the IRGC\u2019s military escapades and operations. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, most of Iran\u2019s \u201chardliners\u201d now believe that the leaked tapes   expose Zarif\u2019s contempt for the system he represents. The leaked tapes also endorse hardliner views that Zarif is a compromised and incompetent technocrat and is incapable of leading the nuclear talks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Zarif was summoned to Iran\u2019s Parliament for questioning on May 9 regarding the leaked tapes,\u00a0 the chief of the National Security Commission Mujatba Zolnouri said\u00a0 his answers\u00a0 indicated that he held a \u201cgrudge<\/a>\u201d against Soleimani, and he wanted to\u00a0reverse his\u00a0military gains. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Zarif was working against\u00a0 national interests and he added that\u00a0 Iran would have no one\u00a0to negotiate with without gaining advantages on the military front.\u00a0In response to these allegations, Zarif said he personally did not endorse polarity between\u00a0 the goals of diplomacy and the military field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghalibaf endorsed the Parliament\u2019s decision to investigate<\/a> the Center for Strategic Research and the Foreign Ministry. Since the tapes were leaked, some 15 to 20 government officials<\/a> have already been removed from office, and 15 are banned from leaving<\/a> Iran.\u00a0Iranian preachers close to Ayatollah Khamenei have\u00a0received the green light to deliver public sermons against Zarif<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaked tapes shed light on the divisive nature of Iranian politics during the time of the previous nuclear talks. Even now there are disagreements regarding the Vienna talks, and there is a long way to go before the official nuclear talks<\/a> start and conclude. This means that Zarif will be out of office when a new nuclear\u00a0formula is reached with global powers.\u00a0 Hence, the \u201chardliners,\u201d not Zarif, will be the main drivers of the future nuclear talks, as a \u201chardliner\u201d candidate is expected to win the upcoming presidential election. This is something that the \u201chardliners\u201d have wanted for a very long time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a series of leaked interview tapes, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made some rather off the cuff remarks. The timing of the leak suggests that the intent was either to advance Zarif\u2019s presidential bid in the upcoming election in June, or to discredit him before the race, or simply to stir public interest in the election. On a closer look, the tapes could have also been leaked to put pressure on global powers, mainly the United States, to reach a quick agreement with Tehran over its nuclear file.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[39,5784,5800],"class_list":["post-9083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-zarif","tag-zarifs-attendance","tag-zarifs-tapes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9154,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9083\/revisions\/9154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}