Iran MP denies rift between battlefield and diplomacy

A member of Iran’s parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee denied any split between the Islamic Republic’s military and diplomatic decision-makers, saying both sides take orders from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Mansour Haghighatpour said Western countries were hoping to hear signs of division among Iranian officials, but argued that military and diplomatic actors operate under the same command.

“Both Majid the precision-striker (IRGC Aerospace Force commander Brigadier General Majid Mousavi) and Mohammad-Bagher the negotiator (Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf) take orders from one commander named Mojtaba Khamenei,” Haghighatpour said. “So in response to the West’s wish to hear the sound of discord and division among the system’s officials and functionaries, one must say: dream on.”

Haghighatpour also described the Foreign Ministry’s support for the IRGC’s Sunday night military operation as evidence of coordination between the military and diplomatic arms of the Islamic Republic.

He said the battlefield and diplomacy are “two wings” of the system and operate under the command of the commander-in-chief.