عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Iranian Security Agencies File Lawsuit over Zarif’s Leaked Recording

Iranian former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (AFP)
Iranian former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (AFP)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
20
TT

Iranian Security Agencies File Lawsuit over Zarif’s Leaked Recording

Iranian former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (AFP)
Iranian former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (AFP)

Iranian media reported on Tuesday that security agencies in the cleric-led country were mobilizing a lawsuit over a controversial voice recording for Iran’s former top diplomat, Mohammad Javad Zarif, which was leaked last April.

Zarif’s remarks in the recording sparked nationwide controversy as he criticized the activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the region for overriding his diplomacy efforts.

The storm triggered by his comments kept him out of the presidential race, dealing a significant blow to reformists who had high hopes for the ex-foreign minister running and perhaps winning against conservative candidates.

The media had published a leaked fragment of a recording of a conversation Zarif had with Iranian economist Saeed Laylaz.

Shortly after the leak, Iranian lawmakers weighed in heavily on the country’s justice system to file a lawsuit against Zarif.

The reformist daily Arman Meli reported on Tuesday that several security agencies are behind initiating another lawsuit.

These agencies include the intelligence service of the Revolutionary Guards, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the intelligence service of the Iranian judiciary.

According to the newspaper, the list of indictments includes 190 suspects, including Zarif, Lilaz, and Mohammad Ghouchani, editor-in-chief of Sazandegi, an Iranian daily affiliated with former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s political faction.

In turn, the “Rouydad 24” news website, quoting a lawyer, reported that the authorities had summoned several suspects in the case during the past days without charging them. The lawyer referred to the seizure of mobile phones, laptops, and other devices from those accused.

Zarif said in the recording that “the military field rules” in Iran and that he had “sacrificed diplomacy for the military field rather than the field servicing diplomacy.”

Moreover, the minister described a rivalry with General Qassem Soleimani, who ran the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign arm before getting killed in a US airstrike in Iraq.

In the leaked voice recording, Zarif also accuses Russia of interfering in Syria and cooperating with the Revolutionary Guard to sabotage the Iran nuclear deal.

Most Viewed

 
World

Russia Attacks Ukraine's Energy Supplies with Dozens of Missiles and Drones

A Ukrainian serviceman passes by a residential building damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
A Ukrainian serviceman passes by a residential building damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
TT
20
TT

Russia Attacks Ukraine's Energy Supplies with Dozens of Missiles and Drones

A Ukrainian serviceman passes by a residential building damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
A Ukrainian serviceman passes by a residential building damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia

Russia attacked Ukrainian energy facilities with dozens of missiles and drones during the night, officials said Friday, hobbling the country’s ability to deliver heat and light to its citizens and to power weapons factories vital to its defenses.
The overnight barrage — which also pounded residences and wounded at least 10 people — came days after the US suspended military aid and intelligence to Ukraine to pressure it into accepting a peace deal being pushed by the Trump administration. Without US intelligence, Ukraine’s ability to strike inside Russia and defend itself from bombardment is significantly diminished, The Associated Press aid.
Air-defense systems supplied by the West are crucial for Ukraine, but further US help is uncertain under President Donald Trump, who says he’s determined to end the war. European Union leaders, mindful they may need to shoulder more of the burden for arming Ukraine and strengthen their own defenses, agreed on a plan Thursday to significantly build up their military spending.
Ukraine is having a tough time on the battlefield. An onslaught by Russia’s bigger army is straining short-handed Ukrainian forces at places along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.
Officials from the US and Ukraine will meet in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss ending the war, which began more than three years ago when Russia launched a full-scale invasion. On Friday, President Trump said on social media he was “strongly considering” placing additional sanctions on Russia to force it into peace talks with Ukraine.
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” Trump said.
Ukraine came under a “massive missile and drone” attack overnight, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook.
“Russia is trying to hurt ordinary Ukrainians by striking energy and gas production facilities, without abandoning its goal of leaving us without light and heat, and causing the greatest harm to ordinary citizens,” Halushchenko wrote.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid during the war. The attacks have depleted electricity generation capacity and disrupted critical heating and water supplies. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of “weaponizing winter” in an effort to erode civilian morale.
Zelenskyy on Friday won the support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for Ukraine's proposals to take some first steps toward stopping the war, including a halt on firing missiles, drones and bombs at energy and other civilian infrastructure. Zelenskyy has also proposed ceasing combat operations in the Black Sea to allow safe shipping.
Erdogan said that he also wants the shooting to stop without delay.
“We support the idea of an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties,” he said in a video call with European leaders.
Zelenskyy first suggested those initial steps in a post on X on Tuesday, when he said that he was ready to work under President Trump’s “strong leadership” to get a lasting peace.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the energy supply is a legitimate target in the war, because it's “linked with Ukraine’s military industrial complex and weapons production.”
Russian air defenses downed 39 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, DTEK, said that the overnight bombardment in the Odesa region was Russia’s sixth attack in the past two and a half weeks on its facilities. Its plants in two other regions were also struck.
Russia fired 67 missiles from air, land and sea, and launched 194 strike and decoy drones, Ukraine’s air force said. Their primary target was Ukraine’s natural gas extraction facilities, it said.
For the first time, Ukraine deployed French Mirage-2000 warplanes delivered a month ago to help repel the attack, according to the air force. Ukraine also has Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to shoot down Russian missiles.
Ukrainian defenses downed 34 missiles and 100 drones, the air force said, while up to 10 missiles didn’t reach their targets and 86 drones were lost from radars, presumably jammed by electronic warfare.