Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif has been ordered by the country's supreme leader to stop shouting at Secretary of State John Kerry during nuclear negotiations,
according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Zarif, Iran's lead negotiator, told the country's state-controlled media that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has instructed him to stop yelling at Kerry and other top U.S. officials during the talks.
The shouting came to light just as it was revealed that Zarif and Kerry were
due to meet this weekend in Geneva for more talks aimed at preventing Iran from arming itself with weapons of mass destruction in return for an easing of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Zarif's rage was first revealed in the Iranian press in November, when the U.S. and Iran decided to extend nuke talks through June. Zarif was said to "frequently shout at Western diplomats" with such venom that bodyguards rushed into the negotiation room.
Abbas Araqchi, an Iranian member of the negotiating team, said that while negotiating in Geneva last year, Zarif "shouted" at Kerry and talked to him in such a way that it was deemed "unprecedented" in the annals of U.S. diplomacy.
Zarif's anger management problem has become such an integral part of the proceedings that European Union Foreign Policy representative Catherine Ashton, a chief Western negotiator, had even gotten used to the temper tantrums, the Beacon reported. But, after Khamenei heard about the shouting in the press, he summoned Zarif to his office.
"'Why you are yelling in negotiations? Smile and speak,'" Zarif quoted the supreme leader as saying. "'Do not quarrel on the negotiation table, reason with them.'"
And Khamenei also cited a verse from the Quran that says: "Go, both of you, to Pharaoh, for he has indeed transgressed all bounds. But speak to him mildly; perchance he may take warning or fear [Allah]."
The State Department refused to address the reports about Zarif's meeting with Khamenei, the Beacon added.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.