Iran will not allow anyone to enter negotiations with the “enemies” of slain military commander Qassem Soleimani, according to a representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“We do not negotiate with the enemies of Qassem Soleimani and do not allow anyone to do so,” said Ali Shirazi, the Supreme Leader’s representative in Iran’s elite Quds Force – the overseas arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Shirazi’s remarks came in response to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s interview with German news outlet Der Spiegel last week, during which Zarif stated that Iran does not rule out negotiations with the US, even after killing Soleimani.
Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad on January 3.
“Neither the regime nor the people of Iran, and not even the Resistance Front, allow negotiations with the enemies of General Soleimani,” Shirazi, who was visiting Soleimani’s grave in the city of Kerman, said.
The “Resistance Front” is a term used by Iran to refer to its regional allies and proxies.
Other top IRGC figures have also voiced their displeasure at Zarif’s remarks.
Iran is “doomed to defeat” if it enters negotiations with the “enemy” in the current situation, the head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization Hossein Taeb said on Tuesday, while senior IRGC commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi said that Soleimani’s killing was a consequence of past negotiations with the US.
