Iran’s Zarif, public face of detente with West, quits
tehran — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was the lead negotiator in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, has abruptly tendered his resignation, although there was no sign on Tuesday that President Hassan Rouhani had accepted it.
Zarif offered an apology for his “shortcomings” in the unexpected message on Instagram on Monday, with prominent members of parliament immediately calling for Rouhani to reject the resignation.
Zarif, 59, has served as Rouhani’s foreign minister since August 2013 and has been under constant pressure from hardliners who opposed his policy of detente with the West.
“I apologise for my inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my term in office,” Zarif said in the message posted on his verified Instagram account. —
tehran — Mohammad Javad Zarif is credited with crafting Iran’s landmark nuclear deal, but the veteran diplomat has spent years dodging “daggers” from detractors at home.
When thousands of Iranians flocked to the streets to celebrate the signing of the historic accord, it was Zarif ’s name they chanted.
As the Islamic republic’s top diplomat, Zarif had led the negotiations between September 2013 and July 2015 which led to the deal, heralded as ending Iran’s international isolation.
But initial elation came crashing down in May when US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement and reimposed crippling sanctions, hitting Iranians hard.
Zarif has for years come under fire from Iranian conservatives, who resented his close relationship with his US counterpart, John Kerry, during the nuclear talks.
“We were more worried by the daggers that were struck from behind than the negotiations,” he told the newspaper in a February 2 interview.
“Internal pressure wore me down both during and after the talks.” Spending more than a third of his life in the United States and speaking flawless English have made him a hate figure for hardliners in his own country.
Those who last year failed to impeach Zarif continued their criticism of him Tuesday following the diplomat’s decision to resign, although some lawmakers stood by him.
Raised in a religious family in Tehran, the two-time ambassador to the United Nations revealed in a best-selling memoir,
that he did not listen to music until he was 15. —
We were more worried by the daggers that were struck from behind than the negotiations
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister