Iran’s former Foreign Minister Javed Zarif, who negotiated the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers, announced on Monday that he has resigned from his new post as vice president.
“I resigned as vice president for strategic affairs last week,” Zarif said in a post on X, less than two weeks after newly elected reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian chose him as his vice president.
Hello to the great people of Iran
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Of course, from the side of some men, with the strange interpretation of the law passed in 1401, I am employed in a sensitive occupation… pic.twitter.com/OtLynZe4DH
— Javed Zarif (@JZarif) August 12, 2024
Zarif gave several reasons for his resignation, the most prominent of which was his disappointment in the newly proposed 19-member cabinet.
“I am ashamed that I could not implement the expert opinions of the committees (responsible for selecting candidates) in a civilised manner and include women, youth and ethnic groups, as I promised,” he said.
Pezeshkian on Sunday presented his cabinet, which includes a woman, to parliament for approval.
The proposed list was criticized by some in Iran’s reformist camp, including conservatives from the government of late President Ebrahim Raisi.
Zarif said he also faced pressure after his appointment as vice president because his children hold American citizenship.
He said, “My message to the dear Dr. Pezeshkian…is not an expression of regret or disappointment or an opposition to realism; rather it is meant to cast doubt on my usefulness as Vice President for Strategic Affairs.” He said he would return to academia and focus less on Iran’s domestic politics.
Zarif, who was Iran’s top diplomat between 2013 and 2021 under the government of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, came to prominence on the international stage during the protracted negotiations for the 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The deal effectively failed three years later when then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the pact and reimposed tough sanctions on the Islamic republic.
But it also made Zarif a symbol of a more open, outward-looking Iran that Pezeshkian pledged to strive for during his campaign, during which the former top diplomat often joined him.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
