Qaani on Anniversary of Soleimani’s Killing: Diplomacy Must Connect to the Field

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters
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Qaani on Anniversary of Soleimani’s Killing: Diplomacy Must Connect to the Field

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters

A day ahead of Iran marking the second anniversary of the killing of the revered Iranian commander of the Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, his successor, Esmail Qaani gave a speech at the headquarters of the Iranian foreign ministry.

Qaani shed light on the links joining his forces to the cleric-led country’s diplomatic institution.

Soleimani, who headed the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign arm, was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces.

“Soleimani was proactive in establishing contacts between the battlefield and diplomacy,” said Qaani in his Sunday speech.

Qaani’s remark came as a hint against what was said in a leaked voice recording by ex-foreign minister Javad Zarif that emerged last April. In the recording, Zarif criticizes the Revolutionary Guard for overruling his diplomacy efforts with their military activity in the region.

Moreover, the former minister leveled criticism against Soleimani for visiting Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days into the signing of the Iran nuclear deal in July 2015. Before the deal went into implementation, Putin also met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and agreed to expand military cooperation in Syria.

Condemnation against Zarif’s remarks had kept him from running in the country’s presidential elections despite some reformers urging him to do so. Zarif did not run, and ultra-hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi won the election, which recorded the lowest turnout in the past four decades.

Qaani defended the relationship between the foreign ministry and the Quds Force.

“One of the important issues is that the people who work in the diplomatic and political field have consistency and cooperation with the people who work in the battlefield,” he added.



Zelenskiy Says Ukraine's Membership of NATO is 'Achievable'

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
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Zelenskiy Says Ukraine's Membership of NATO is 'Achievable'

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks as he attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Ukraine's membership of NATO is "achievable", but Kyiv will have to fight to persuade allies to make it happen, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainian diplomats in a speech on Sunday.
Ukraine has repeatedly urged NATO to invite Kyiv to become a member. The Western military alliance has said Ukraine will join its ranks one day but has not set a date or issued an invitation.
Moscow has cited the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO as one of the principal justifications for its 2022 invasion. Kyiv says membership in the Western alliance's mutual defense pact, or an equivalent form of security guarantee, would be crucial to any peace plan to ensure that Russia does not attack again.
"We all understand that Ukraine's invitation to NATO and membership in the alliance can only be a political decision," Zelenskiy told diplomats at a gathering in Kyiv. "Alliance for Ukraine is achievable, but it is achievable only if we fight for this decision at all the necessary levels."
Zelenskiy said allies needed to know what Ukraine can bring to NATO and how its membership in the alliance would stabilize global relations, Reuters reported.
Last week, Zelenskiy urged European countries to provide guarantees to protect Ukraine after the war with Russia ends and said Ukraine would ultimately need more protection through membership of the alliance.