*Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called remarks by thecountry’s foreign minister as a “big mistake”, a week after audio emergedof the minister criticised the military’s influence on diplomacy.*

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, a long-standing member ofPresident Rouhani’s cabinet, made the controversial remarks in aconfidential conversation.

The leaked recording provoked anger from conservative factions in theIranian regime, as the Presidential elections loom amid talks to revive theIran Nuclear Deal – which remain in limbo.

“The country’s policies are made of different economic, military, social,scientific and cultural plans, including foreign relations and diplomacy,”Khamenei stated in televised remarks, adding that “one part denies theother or contradicts, is a big mistake that must not be perpetrated byofficials of the Islamic republic”.

The Supreme Leader emphasised that “nowhere in the world is foreign policydevised by the foreign ministry, adding that decisions are made by theSupreme National Security Council.

Zarif mentioned in the recording that “the military field rules” in Iranand that he had “sacrificed diplomacy for the military field rather thanthe field servicing diplomacy.”

President Rouhani, who is approaching the end of his second and final term,stated that the audio leak was timed to sow discord in Iran, just as theVienna talks were “at the height of their success”.