Unloading his frustrations on a London-based Farsi-speaking satellite news channel, 61-tear-old Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif did the unthinkable, complain about the fact that he has no power, no clout, not influence in Iran’s foreign policy. Zarif admitted that only Iran’s 82-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards Corps have any power over foreign policy, not Iran’s diplomatic corps at the Foreign Ministry. Zarif committed the cardinal sin in theocratic dictatorship expressing his true feelings. Like so many other educated Iranians, Zarif got his education in the United States at San Francisco State and the University of Denver where he earned him M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations. When you’re educated in the U.S. it’s natural to speak your mind, even when it might destroy your future.
Zarif complained to the London-based Farsi-speaking satellite channel, expressing disappointment over his titular role serving as the face of Iran’s foreign policy, when, in fact, he has no influence. Zarif sweated it out for two years banging heads with 77-year-old former Secretary of State John Kerry with whom he hammered out the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] AKA the “Iranian Nuke Deal,” an agreement with the P5+1, U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany, to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment programs in exchange for $1.6 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief. Former President Donald Trump, 77, cancelled U.S. involvement in the Nuke Deal May 8, 2018, largely due to Iran’s proxy war with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Biden hopes to revise the JCPOA to stick it Trump as much as possible, regardless of harming U.S. national security.
Since taking office Jan. 20, 78-year-old President Joe Biden has tried to resuscitate the Nuke Deal in Vienna, with the P5+1 continuing to placate Ayatollah’s demands for a new agreement, demanding an unconditional end to U.S. sanctions. U.S. officials, working through other signatories because Iran won’t talk directly to the U.S. have been bending over backwards for a new deal. Since taking office, Biden has done everything possible to undo all of Trump accomplishment, including Southern border security. Biden has hit U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations with a wrecking ball, turning the U.S. border with Mexico into a raging calamity. When Biden delivers his quasi-State-of-the-Union speech on Zoom tonight, everything will sound like unprecedented success. Anyone paying any attention to what’s happening with the border, Iran, Russia and China know differently.
Zarif now apologizes for his remarks leaked to the press, complaining about the limits of his power with foreign policy. “I am very sorry how a secret theoretical discussion about the necessity of increasing cooperation between diplomacy and the fied [the Guard]—in order for the next officials to use the valuable experience of the last eight years—became an internal conflict,” Zarif wrote. Zarif was considered a viable presidential candidate to replace 72-year-old outgoing moderate President Hassan Rouhani who’s termed out. Zarif’s gaffe for the Ayatollah and his acolytes to see most likely will see him replaced as Iran’s Foreign Minister. Zarif, while doing the bidding of the Ayatollah, was a less extreme face to Iran’s foreign policy, despite the fact, as Zarif confesses, he has no real clout. Zarif takes his orders from the Ayatollah and his rubber stamped Assembly of experts
.
Zarif finds himself caught between a rock-and-a-hard place admitting to the London-based Farsi station that he has no real power to do anything on foreign policy without expressed approval of the Ayatollah. “I did not censor myself, because this is a betrayal of the people,” Zarif said, trying to excuse statements made in the interview. With the Ayatollah and Assembly of Experts knowing Zarif’s frustrations with Revolutionary Guard Commander Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani calling the shots. Iran still wants to retaliate against the U.S. for Trump killing Al Quds Leader Qassem Soleimani Jan. 3, 2020 in a predator drone strike outside the Baghdad airport. Soleimani was responsible for the proxy wars against Saudi Arabia and Israel, not to mention Limpet mine attacks on Persian and Oman Gulf oil tankers. Zarif admitted in his interview he has no say over Iran’s foreign policy.
When it comes to dictatorships like Iran, no one should be surprised that front-man like Zarif has no power in Iran’s foreign policy. What’s surprising is that he would air his frustrations to a foreign TV station knowing the possible consequences, including his possible termination and vaporization. Rouhani said Iran’s Intelligence Ministry “must do its best to find out how this tape was stolen and publish a report to people,” Rouhani said. “There will be no mercy for those that made a mistake like this,” not mentioning the political fallout to Zarif, now in Ayatollah’s dog house. How the Ayatollah could trust Zarif again is anyone’s guess, knowing he harbors frustration about Iran’s power chain of command. “It was published just when Vienna was on the road to success, to create conflicts in the country Rouhani said. Rouhani knows that nothing gets past Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
