Tehran
A leaked audio tape in which Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, bemoans that the Revolutionary Guards dominate the country’s foreign policy and took it into Syria’s civil war at the behest of Russia is making the rounds, with many on social media expressing shock and bewilderment.
Some of the revelations confirm what many Iranians have suspected all along. What is surprising is that they came from Mr Zarif, an experienced diplomat who is normally very guarded and is a moderate by Iranian standards.
It is not clear who has leaked the tape, though it comes as Iran prepares to hold a presidential election and internal power struggles reach new heights.
Mr Zarif has said he is not a candidate to succeed President Hassan Rouhani, but hardliners do not trust him and want to eliminate any chance of that happening.
What is clear is that the tape will land Iran’s top diplomat in big trouble with hardliners and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say over all government matters and controls the Revolutionary Guards, the country’s most powerful security force.
One newspaper has already described the story as a “scandal”.
It appears that the three-hour audio tape, which has reached the BBC and other news outlets abroad.—Agencies
