<p>TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top diplomat expressed regret Wednesday that a recording leaked out of him making frank comments about the limits of his power in the Islamic Republic, while the country’s president describing the incident as a means to derail ongoing talks with world powers over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal.</p>
<p>Posting to his Instagram account, Mohammad Javad Zarif offered his first public comments about the recording, which <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-iran-nuclear-middle-east-europe-0068e6e181a4cc9aaa8433d8257ce04e">caused a political firestorm across Iran ahead of the country’s June 18 presidential election</a>. While Zarif has said he does not want to run in the election, some have suggested him as a potential candidate to stand against hard-liners in the vote. </p>
<p>Zarif’s post included video of him at a memorial in Baghdad for Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top commander in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Zarif’s leaked remarks included cutting references to the limits of his power and Soleimani’s decisions overriding his priorities at the Foreign Ministry. </p>
<p>“I am very sorry how a secret, theoretical discussion about the necessity of increasing cooperation between diplomacy and the field (the Guard) — in order for the next officials to use the valuable experiences of the last eight years –- became an internal conflict,” Zarif wrote. </p>
<p>However, the top diplomat stopped short of apologizing for his remarks directly. He said honest and compassionate remarks about what he perceived as wrong were being interpreted as personal criticism.</p>
<p>“I did not censor myself, because this is a betrayal of the people,” Zarif wrote. </p>
<p>At a weekly Cabinet meeting, term-limited President Hassan Rouhani lashed out over the release of the recording. He said the interview was part of a wider project of interviews with government officials for posterity as he ends his eight years in office. </p>
<p>The Intelligence Ministry “must to do its best to find out how this tape was stolen, and publish a report to people,” Rouhani said. “There will be no mercy for those who made a mistake on this.”</p>
<p>He also directly linked the timing of the leak to the Vienna talks about the nuclear deal.</p>
<p>“It was published just when Vienna was on the road to success, to create conflicts in the country,” Rouhani said. </p>
<p>Portions of the leaked interview first aired earlier this week on Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority owned by a Saudi national. Tehran has criticized Iran International in the past over its coverage.</p>
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<p>Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. </p>
