Iran’s foreign affairs minister complains he was forced to ‘sacrifice diplomacy’ in favor of IRGC operations

In a leaked interview, sure to be embarrassing for Iran, its foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif bashed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and indirectly, the late Qassem Soleimani, who was a hero by Iran. Zarif said “he was forced to sacrifice diplomacy in favor of operations by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” He also “accused Soleimani of ignoring his pleas to refrain from using the Iranian national airline for transportation to Syria.”

The alarming accusation against Soleimani saw a “number of Iranian airlines…sanctioned for ferrying fighters and weapons into Syria to support Bashar Assad during the conflict.”

As a result, “Soleimani’s pressure led to a dramatic increase in flights to Damascus.”

The strange occurrence of this “leaked video” represents a significant division inside Iran where its foreign affairs minister and the IRGC is at odds. The IRGC is recognized even by globalists such as the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to be “mandated by Iran’s constitution to pursue “an ideological mission of jihad in God’s way; that is extending sovereignty of God’s law throughout the world.”

“Iran International report: Zarif accused Soleimani of directing Iranian foreign policy,” Arab News, April 25, 2021:

LONDON: Iran’s foreign minister said he was forced to sacrifice diplomacy in favor of operations by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a leaked audio recording.

The three-hour interview with Mohammad Javad Zarif, which was obtained by the London-based Iran International television channel, reveals the extent of the IRGC’s control over foreign policy.

Zarif said Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Guard’s Quds Force, which is responsible for overseas operations, had a direct hand over broader foreign policy. Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad in January last year. As one of Iran’s most powerful figures, he oversaw the regime’s proxy militias in countries like Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

According to Iran International, Zarif said Soleimani’s influence meant he had to further a diplomacy that served Iran’s military operations in the region.

“On the other hand, I have never been able to ask Soleimani to do something that would serve my diplomatic moves,” he said.

He accused Soleimani of ignoring his pleas to refrain from using the Iranian national airline for transportation to Syria. He said Soleimani’s pressure led to a dramatic increase in flights to Damascus.

A number of Iranian airlines have been sanctioned for ferrying fighters and weapons into Syria to support Bashar Assad during the conflict.

The recording was an interview with journalist Saeed Laylaz in March but intended for publication after President Hassan Rouhani leaves office in August…