Iran s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attends a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, November 5, 2020. (Matias Delacroix/AP)
Iran’s foreign minister apologized Sunday for recorded comments that were leaked to the public last week, creating a firestorm in the country less than two months before presidential elections.
The recordings of Mohammad Javad Zarif included frank comments on powerful late Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020. The attack at the time brought the US and Iran to the brink of war. Soleimani’s funeral processions in Iran drew millions of people to the streets.
Sunday, 02 May 2021 10:03 AM
[ Last Update: Sunday, 02 May 2021 10:18 AM ] Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian (L) attends a press conference with Iraqi Electricity Minister Majid Mahdi Hantoush in Tehran on May 2, 2021. (Photo by Iran Press news agency)
Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian says Iran will use its funds blocked in neighboring Iraq to purchase vaccines from Russia against the COVID-19 disease.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with visiting Iraqi Electricity Minister Majid Mahdi Hantoush in Tehran on Sunday, Ardakanian said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered that the money needed for buying COVID-19 vaccines be provided from funds held in different parts of the world.