In a leaked interview published by the London-based Iranian TV station Iran International, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif voices harsh criticism of the Revolutionary Guard corps and legendary Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020.
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According to the Iran International report, Zarif also criticized Russia's policy on the 2015 nuclear deal with the western powers and claimed that Soleimani tried to destroy the deal.
The conversation took place in March, supposedly for purposes of "internal documentation" and was hosted by Iranian journalist and economist Saeed Laylaz, considered a close associate of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The conversation revealed that Zarif had a long-standing rivalry with Soleimani. The foreign minister reportedly said, "I have never been able to ask Soleimani to do something that would serve my diplomatic moves," referring to a visit Soleimani paid to Russia immediately after the JCPOA was signed.
Zarif said that the visit was initiated by Moscow, without the Iranian Foreign Ministry having any control.
"His [Soleimani's] goal was the destroy the nuclear deal," Zarif said, adding that he had serious criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy in Syria and that sometimes he needed to use "crude, undiplomatic language" when dealing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In addition, Zarif claimed that Soleimani tended to keep the Foreign Ministry out of the loop about Iran's military activity in Syria, and noted that it was former US Secretary of State John Kerry who informed him that "Israel had carried out over 200 strikes against Iranian forces in Syria."
The timing of the leaked interview is inconvenient for the Tehran regime, given the recent progress between western nations and Iran toward a renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal. A few days ago the sides even announced they had started to exchange drafts, and Rouhani confirmed that negotiations were moving forward.
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