On April 28 Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted on his Instagram feed a video of his visit to the memorial in Iraq dedicated to Gen. Qaseem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps assassinated last year by a U.S. drone strike.
In a caption, Zarif cited Soleimani for “firmness, humanity, [and a] commitment to peace.”
But the post came after the leak of a lengthy interview in which Zarif candidly described Soleimani as just the opposite – an impediment to diplomacy and warmonger. Parts of the interview were broadcast April 25 by the U.K.-based Farsi language news network Iran International.
In the Instagram post, Zarif says:
“Martyr Soleimani was praised by the world for his firmness, humanity, commitment to peace and courage. The peace established today in Afghanistan and Iraq and the defeat of ISIS was more than anything due to General Soleimani’s wisdom and courage.”
Yet, in the leaked interview, Zarif essentially described Soleimani as a war hawk who controlled and undermined him. Zarif said he had “zero” influence over Iran’s foreign policy and was forced to “make this or that concession or point almost every time I went to negotiate" while following Soleimani’s instructions.
"The (military) field's success was more important than diplomacy's success. I was negotiating for the (military) field's success," Zarif said, as translated via Reuters.
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