US and Iranian warships had a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in about a year amid wider turmoil in the region over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal, the US Navy said yesterday.
Footage released by the US Navy showed a ship commanded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cut in front of the USCGC <i>Monomoy</i>, causing the US Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking on April 2.
The Guard also did the same with another US vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, said US Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman
Leaked Zarif Interview Highlights Lack of Gov’t Mandate with Vienna Talks Resuming Daniel Sonnenfeld
“This was clearly leaked with a bigger political objective in mind,” says expert
UK-based Iran International, a Persian-language news channel, revealed on Sunday a leaked interview of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The three-hour interview, apparently created as an archival project intended to document the current Iranian administration, included a string of surprisingly blunt sayings about the dominance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iranian foreign policy, compared to the Foreign Ministry’s relative impotence.
According to Iran International and The New York Times (who also had access to the recording), the minister said that the final word on matters of policy belonged to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, or in many cases, to the IRGC. Zarif reportedly claimed he had no influence on deciding the country’s foreign policy.
27 Apr 2021
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reportedly ordered an investigation into how an Iranian outlet based outside of the country obtained audio of an hours-long conversation with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in which he repeatedly insulted dead Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leader Qasem Soleimani.
Iran International, a U.K.-based outlet focused on Iranian news that the regime considers hostile to its interests, published excerpts on Sunday from a bombshell interview Zarif gave Saeed Laylaz, a regime-friendly journalist, reportedly in early 2021. The outlet also reportedly published about 3 hours of raw audio of the discussion on Clubhouse. In the published remarks, Zarif complains that, despite being the nation’s top diplomat, he has “nil” input in the nation’s foreign policy due to IRGC intervention in his work. He particularly condemned Qasem Soleimani, the former head of the IRGC Quds Force, for allegedly conducting unauthorized diplomacy in
April 27, 2021
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered an investigation April 27 into the leak of an audiotape containing containing confidential statements by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Government spokesman Ali Rabiee said Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has been assigned with identifying those behind the leak, which he said is being treated as a conspiracy against national security.
Iranian officials have said the audio was part of an oral history project meant to be archived at the presidential office as a confidential file.
Two days into the leak, the bombshell was still leaving behind ripple effects across Iran’s political and media circles. The hard-line camp appeared to have opened up a new front line against the veteran diplomat it has long accused of treason and subservience to the West.