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Zarif Says Won't Run In Presidential Elections

A picture published by the website of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during his reception of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shortly after the nuclear agreement was reached in 2015.
A picture published by the website of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during his reception of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shortly after the nuclear agreement was reached in 2015.
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Zarif Says Won't Run In Presidential Elections

A picture published by the website of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during his reception of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shortly after the nuclear agreement was reached in 2015.
A picture published by the website of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during his reception of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shortly after the nuclear agreement was reached in 2015.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif officially announced that he would not run in upcoming presidential elections, hours before his plane landed at Damascus airport.

A number of reformist websites reported that former President Mohammad Khatami, Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the former Supreme Leader Khomeini, failed to persuade Zarif to run in the elections.

During a closed session to discuss the leaked audio on Sunday, Zarif informed the parliament that he does not intend to run in the presidential elections, in an attempt to assert that he does not have electoral goals.

Zarif addressed the Iranian citizens through an Instagram post saying his candidacy for this year’s elections is not in the interest of the country and the people.

He said he had made the decision not on the basis of personal interests or for his own convenience, but because “I have reached this conscientious conviction that me running would not be in the best interest of the country and the nation given the perturbations that have been displayed in the past eight years.”

Zarif said that the elections will be fateful, explaining that not voting is a choice, “but one that would only lead to the victory of the minority.”

He implicitly criticized the pressures he has been subjected to since the Iranian New Year, referring to a television series about Western intelligence services spying on the nuclear negotiating team.

The FM announced his upcoming regional and European tour, pointing out that it is “within the framework of the foreign minister’s duties,” and is not related to the nuclear negotiations in Vienna aimed at reaching an agreement.

Zarif mocked his opponents, urging them to focus on local issues, the priorities of guarding national interests, and protecting people from US sanctions.

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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.

The arrest of a new senior army officer involved in a suspected leak of classified Gaza documents has sparked a wave of political controversy and public outcry in Israeli politics.
In the past few days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some individuals close to him tried to downplay the so-called “leaks scandal” and portrayed it as “just an ordinary incitement against the PM.”
But on Monday, an Israeli army officer was arrested by police investigators as part of the probe into leaked classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Hebrew media reports said the officer was relaxing with his wife and children in a hotel in the southern city of Eilat, when a force of masked policemen raided the place, arrested him, and took him to an investigation room in the Tel Aviv area without providing further information.
Observers suggest this officer is one of the security personnel who leaked and falsified documents from the military to compromise efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The arrest is the fifth so far in the high-profile investigation. The five suspects include a civilian spokesman from Netanyahu's circle and four members of the security establishment.
Hebrew media outlets on Monday uncovered new information about the central suspect in the case, Eli Feldstein, the only person whose name was allowed to be published. Feldstein has previously worked for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He then worked as a spokesman for Netanyahu from soon after the Hamas attack in southern Israel in October 2023.
According to people close to the investigation, one of the tasks assigned to Feldstein in the PM’s office was to “share with various media outlets security information that serves Netanyahu.”
Feldstein is suspected of receiving secret documents from army officers and then sharing them with a false interpretation to both the German Bild newspaper and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, which are both close to Netanyahu and his wife.
The scandal started when details from a secret document were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept. 6.
The report cited a document captured in Gaza indicating that Hamas’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel was to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population. Bild said it had obtained the spring 2024 document exclusively, without offering further details. It said the document was found on a computer in Gaza that belonged to now-slain Hamas leader Sinwar.
Around the same time, Jewish Chronicle published a report saying that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle hostages through the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt.
Netanyahu has used those reports to justify his control over the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt and to thwart the hostages deal.
In the past days, the scandal has provoked sharp criticism from opposition leaders and the families of hostages.
The independent media said it highlighted “the corruption that knows no bounds” in the Netanyahu government.
Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz newspaper that, “Recent scandals among those in Netanyahu's inner circle reveal the nature of his entourage – a crime organization that places him above the country and national security concerns.”
Speaking about the main suspect in the case, Feldstein, Verter wrote, “The new star, burning with motivation to prove himself, quickly adapted to the office's corrupt semi-criminal atmosphere, its moral and ethical decay and its culture of lies, manipulation, and disinformation.”
At the Maariv newspaper, Shimon Hefetz, a colonel in the army reserve and military secretary to three Israeli presidents, spoke on Monday at the 29th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, saying: “(The assassination) will forever be a shocking day for Israeli democracy, as it is happening in the Prime Minister's office today.”