Ayatollah Admonishes Administrator for Accusing Admired Assassinated Army Actor of Adverse Activities

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday addressed for the first time Foreign Minister Mohamad Zarif’s explosive comments, published last week, in which the top diplomat disparaged assassinated General Qasem Soleimani. Khamenei chastised Zarif for “repeating the hostile talks of our enemies, the words of America” and said he was “surprised and sorry” to hear them. In a leaked conversation held last year, the relatively moderate foreign minister accused Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force who was extremely close to Khamenei himself, of undermining Tehran’s foreign policy and sabotaging the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Zarif. Soleimani was killed last year by the United States. The foreign minister has in recent days, and also following the supreme leader’s speech, apologized for his remarks. The timely leak is thought to be an attempt by Iranian hardliners to hamstring the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna between Iran and world powers. Zarif’s ministry officials have in recent weeks held three rounds of indirect negotiations with the US over a mutual return to compliance with the abandoned nuclear agreement.