It’s rare that the United States public gets a glimpse inside the inner workings of Iran. It’s even rarer that the New York Times confirms that President Trump was right, even though they may not realize what they did.

A leaked audiotaped conversation between Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has hit the international press, and the New York Times is covering it. And my oh my, is Zarif in some deep poop with the Iranian regime now.

The audio was leaked at a critical moment for Iran, as the country is discussing the framework for a possible return to a nuclear deal with the United States and other Western powers. Talks through intermediaries have been taking place in Geneva.”

It is unclear what effect, if any, the revelations will have on those talks, or on Mr. Zarif’s position.”

The recording, of a conversation between Mr. Zarif and an economist named Saeed Leylaz, an ally, was not meant for publication, as the foreign minister can repeatedly be heard saying on the audio. A copy was leaked to the London-based Persian news channel Iran International, which first reported on the recording and shared it with The New York Times.”

On it, Mr. Zarif confirms what many have long suspected: that his role as the representative of the Islamic Republic on the world stage is severely constricted. Decisions, he said, are dictated by the supreme leader or, frequently, the Revolutionary Guards Corps.”

Zarif, as our longtime readers and Iran watchers will remember, has posed as the English-speaking face of the Iranian government, posing as John Kerry’s best buddy when it came to talking about restarting the Iran Deal after Trump rightly wrecked it, and loved chatting up Democrat Senator Chris Murphy in order to make Murphy feel super special. Zarif is who gets the task of laying the horse manure on nice and thick for “journalists” like CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, telling her with a straight face that Iran has never pursued nuclear weapons.

Iran is not exactly in a good mood right now, given the crippling sabotage at their Natanz nuclear site. Zarif, as the Iranian regime’s mouthpiece, got to express their anger and blame Israel (which Israel isn’t denying the credit for).

On Monday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif explicitly blamed Israel. “The Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions… We will not fall into their trap…We will not allow this act of sabotage to affect the nuclear talks,” Zarif was quoted by state TV as saying.”

“But we will take our revenge against the Zionists.”

Multiple Israeli media outlets have quoted unnamed intelligence sources as saying the country’s Mossad spy service carried out a successful sabotage operation at the underground Natanz complex, potentially setting back enrichment work there by months.”

Well, “revenge” might have to wait because Iran is now REALLY unhappy with Javad Zarif and the unfiltered comments he made, which revealed his own personal rivalry with one Qasem Soleimani. You remember him, he was the Iranian general that the Trump administration gifted with an airstrike, and left him as a smoking crater at an Iraqi airport, much to the sorrow of his fan club in The Squad. That guy. Well, according to Zarif, losing Soleimani has been devastating for Iran.

In the portions that were leaked, Mr. Zarif does praise the general and says they worked productively together in the prelude to the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. He also says that by assassinating him in Iraq, the United States delivered a major blow to Iran, more damaging than if it had wiped out an entire city in an attack.”

To which we should all say: THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP. Despite all the wailing and hollering about Soleimani’s death by Democrats, it’s clear that in making the call to take him out, President Trump hurt Iran badly, and it will take them years to recover from their loss. Even though it looked like that would be the case, it’s really nice of Zarif to confirm that for us. Now, no Democrat will ever admit that Trump made the right call, just like they would never admit that Israel allegedly sabotaging Natanz was the right call. Up until now, our only confirmation that these were the right moves was in the measure of Iranian outcry. Now, thanks to Zarif, we can see just what kind of strings the Quds Force are pulling within Iran.

Which means that Zarif himself is in a world of hurt.

By Sunday night, Mr. Zarif’s critics were calling for his resignation, saying he had threatened Iran’s national security by revealing to the world the country’s inner politics. Even his supporters expressed concern that the comments could influence the presidential elections in late June and harm candidates from the reform faction, which Mr. Zarif is associated with, by reinforcing voter apathy and the idea that elected officials are not really in charge.”

The leak follows a series of security breaches within Iran’s intelligence and government circles that have been implicated in two assassinations and two explosions at the Natanz nuclear site. A former vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, said that the publication of Mr. Zarif’s audio was “tantamount to Israel stealing the nuclear documents” from Iran.”

It seems we are about to find out just how much political capital Javad Zarif has – and whether he can use it to save his life, let alone his position within the government. It’s really too bad for John Kerry and Chris Murphy. They might miss their special Iranian friend when he isn’t there anymore.

Welcome Instapundit Readers!

Featured image: Mohammad Javad Zarif via DonkeyHotey on Flickr, cropped and modified, CC BY 2.0