Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has apologized for his statements critical of the political system, especially the Revolutionary Guard. “I want to apologize to everyone,” Sarif said on Instagram on Sunday.
Above all, it’s about the part Qassem SoleimaniFormer commander of the Quds Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. If he had known that his words would be leaked, he would never have said them. Soleimani was hit by a US air strike near the international base in January 2020 Baghdad airport. Since then he has held legendary status as a martyr in Iran.
Background: Sarif’s apology excerpts from an audio interview with him, in which the foreign minister criticized the political system, the powerful Revolutionary Guard, and Soleimani. Then it is alleged that the audio recording was stolen from “inner circles” and parts of it from two Persian-language news channels in London Chest. This is according to the president Hassan Rouhani | High treason because the two channels are funded by Iran’s “enemies” and banned in the country.
The “stolen tape” dominated the front pages of Iranian newspapers for days. Because of the similarities with the Watergate scandal United States of America Hence, there is talk in Iran about the “Serif audio portal”. The hardliners in Parliament want to file a lawsuit against Sarif for insulting Soleimani in the interview. Before that he must answer questions in Parliament. Sarif says that he did not give a “classic interview”, but rather that he had a “theoretical exchange of views” with the strategic department in the presidential office, which should be kept secret.
President Rouhani distanced himself from the interview, but he also saw a hard-line crackdown on tape theft. “Why are certain things happening now that we are on the verge of success in the Vienna nuclear negotiations?” The president said last week. According to Rouhani, the hardliners want to sabotage the negotiations and thus preserve their chances in the presidential elections.
Iran is currently working to reach a compromise in the nuclear dispute with the United States, which could also lead to the lifting of US sanctions and thus end the economic crisis in the country. “I don’t understand why the election campaign is more important to some of the national interests and the well-being of the people,” the president said.