Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani has replaced the head of a think tank that recorded an
interview with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that leaked out this week.
In
the recording of the conversation between Zarif and an economist at the
Strategic Studies Center, the think tank associated with Iran's presidency,
Zarif offers a blunt appraisal of diplomacy and his constricted role in the
country.
Iran's
presidency announced the former chief of Strategic Studies Center resigned and
Ali Rabiei, who already serves as the Cabinet spokesman, would replace him.
The
audio tape, leaked earlier this week to London-based, Farsi-language news
channel Iran International, set off political controversy across Iran ahead of
the country’s June 18 presidential election. While Zarif has said he does not
want to run in the election, some have suggested him as a potential candidate
to stand against hard-liners in the vote.
Zarif’s
leaked remarks included cutting references to the limits of his power and those
of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who was
killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad.
Earlier
this week, Zarif expressed regret that the recording had leaked out as the
country's president portrayed the breach as an incident intended to derail
ongoing talks in Vienna over the return to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world
powers