Rouhani defends Zarif, Soleimani as Iran roils over leaked audio
Iran’s president and speaker of parliament both defended assassinated Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani after critical comments by the foreign minister became public.
President Hassan Rouhani has finally made public comments about the audio file of his foreign minister speaking candidly regarding a number of significant domestic and foreign policy issues.
“These files were meant to be confidential,” Rouhani said today at a cabinet meeting, adding only some of the content was meant to be shared. He continued, “A theft has taken place and … the Intelligence Ministry has to use all of their abilities to find out how these files were stolen.”
Rouhani, distancing himself from the comments made by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said, “Some of the contents are not the views of the administration or the president and it's possible for a minister to have views that they want to remain confidential.”
While Zarif’s recordings did not reveal anything previously unknown, they did showed some disconnect in approach and strategy between himself and former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Addressing those differences, Rouhani said, “Diplomacy and the battlefield do not counter each other.”
