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By Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall web posted May 3, 2021
In a personal and revealing interview with Saeed Laylaz, a senior journalist-economist and advisor to former President Mohammad Khatami, who supports the reform camp, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif explains, in anguish, the depth of the involvement of Qassem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander who was assassinated, in Iran’s foreign policy. He stresses that as a result of this involvement and the pressure that Soleimani constantly exerted, Iran’s foreign policy (including toward Russia) always had to be “sacrificed” for the good of the “battlefield” (hinting at the IRGC), that is, the export of the revolution and Iran’s regional subversion.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s leaked tape
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s leaked tape
The leaked interview, which has set off a storm both in Iran and abroad, starkly illustrates Iran’s regional order of priorities and the limited role of diplomacy in determining it.
By Michael Segal
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaking at the Munich Security Conference in 2019. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Security Conference.
(April 28, 2021 / Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) In a personal and revealing interview with Saeed Laylaz, a senior journalist-economist and adviser to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who supports the reform camp, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif explains, in anguish, the depth of the involvement of Qassem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander who was assassinated in Iraq in January, in Iran’s foreign policy. He stresses that as a result of this involvement and the pressure that Soleimani constantly exerted, Iran’s