Abdi Rules Out the new Foreign Relations Council

Babak Mehdizadeh, Rooz Online:

On the orders of ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a new council called the Council on Foreign Relations will be formed under the leadership of former foreign minister Kamal Kharazi. Rooz Online spoke with Abbas Abdi, who downplayed the role and effectiveness of the council.

Rooz Online (R ): What do you think about creating a Council on Foreign Relations?
Abdi (A): The way decisions are made in the country, neither this council nor 10 others will have any impact on issues. Two interpretations are possible: The first is that since many specialists have been eliminated (by the decisions of the government itself), this move is supposed to not let them feel bad about their rejection. The second is that they wish to make a major strategic change in the nuclear issue and look at the council as the forum for this. READ MORE

R: Can it help in long-term decision?
A: Adding a new agency only crates more duality and does not help anything.

R: Is the work of this council not similar to the one by the Supreme National Security Council?
A: Nothing is parallel to anything else in the Islamic regime [laughing].

R: Isn’ the formation of this group a warning to the decisions of the National Security Council? Some have said this demonstrates the differences between the council and the leadership.
A: No. They are all obedient to the leader. These interpretations are based on assumptions that people make about other countries. None are true in Iran. You can feel safe and sound in this regard.