IRAN ACCUSES SAUDI ARABIA, ISRAEL FOR ZARIF AUDIO LEAKS

Sat 01 May 2021:

Iran’s Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said Saturday that Saudi Arabia and Israel are believed to be behind the recent leak of an audio recording for Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Anadolu Agency reports.

Jahangiri said in statements cited by local media that the recording was released in a “sensitive time” amid talks taking place in Vienna over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

“I think there is an Israeli-Saudi conspiracy behind the audio recording,” Jahangiri said.

He added that President Hassan Rouhani gave instructions to his intelligence services to probe the issue to know how such a recording has reached Saudi media.

On Monday, the New York Times published segments from a leaked audio recording for Zarif which stirred controversy in Iran, with many lawmakers and former officials demanding Zarif resign.

Zarif said in the recording that Qasim Soleimani, a former Iranian general who was killed in January 2020 by the US, was working with Russia to oppose the Iranian nuclear deal.

Zarif also said in the recording that Iran is ruled by the “military field.”

In the recording, which was published by two Persian-language media outlets based in London, Zarif is heard criticizing Iran’s political system and taking aim at the Revolutionary Guard, which he accuses of constantly interfering in the Foreign Ministry’s affairs.

Zarif says the state security organization is undermining his work. He also lashes out against General Qassem Soleimani, who commanded the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force until his assassination by US airstrike near Baghdad’s airport in January 2020.

Rouhani accused hard-liners

Rouhani, who rejected Zarif’s effort to resign in 2019, claimed that the recording had been stolen and deliberately published to create conflict within the government as the nuclear talks continue in Vienna. His administration only has a limited amount of time to reach an agreement. The presidential election is scheduled for mid-June and Rouhani is barred from running for a third term.

The president Rouhani has accused hard-liners of responsibility for the leak. “Why are certain things happening now that we are close to success?” ked during a recent Cabinet meeting. Hard-liners are readying for the presidential race.

In March, Revolutionary Guard Commander Saeed Mohammad, who had until recently headed the military organization’s Khatam al-Anbiya engineering firm, announced his candidacy.

Hard-liners are angry about Zarif’s leaked criticism Soleimani and demand an apology. They, in turn, accuse the foreign minister of having leaked the recording himself to drum up support for his own candidacy. But Zarif has not yet announced whether he will run for office.

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