Zarif faces fury from Iranian hard-liners after leaked tape
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for an investigation into the leak of a tape meant for posterity.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered an investigation April 27 into the leak of an audiotape containing containing confidential statements by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Government spokesman Ali Rabiee said Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has been assigned with identifying those behind the leak, which he said is being treated as a "conspiracy against national security."
Iranian officials have said the audio was part of an oral history project meant to be archived at the presidential office as a confidential file.
Two days into the leak, the bombshell was still leaving behind ripple effects across Iran’s political and media circles. The hard-line camp appeared to have opened up a new front line against the veteran diplomat it has long accused of "treason and "subservience" to the West.
"Zarif had better be wise enough to step down or he will be impeached and dismissed by the revolutionary parliament," said hard-line lawmaker Hossein Haghverdi, one among many disparaging the foreign minister in the conservative parliament, which has been critical of Zarif's foreign policy as a whole.
