In a public address to the nation, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly rebuked Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif over last week’s leaked audio file in which Zarif criticised former IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani, which he described as a “repetition of our enemy’s views”. Khamenei reiterated that Soleimani was “martyred” because he upset the plans of Iran’s enemies and added that “we should not talk in a way that makes our enemies happy”. Khamenei finished with another stern rebuke, saying “everyone must know that foreign policy is not determined in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Iran or anywhere in the world.”
