Iranian foreign minister Zarif suddenly quits

Iranian foreign minister Zarif suddenly quits
Tough going. With Iran under severe pressure amid sanctions, centrist pragmatist Zarif has had to take on the hardliners at home and adversaries abroad. / Agencia de Noticias ANDES.
By bne IntelliNews February 25, 2019

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif late on February 25 suddenly offered his resignation.

In a statement posted on his Instagram page, jzarif_ir, which did not provide a specific reason for the resignation, Zarif wrote: “Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologise for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy.”

The announcement will heighten fears that Iran is set to walk out of the nuclear deal. It is not clear if the resignation will be accepted by President Hassan Rouhani, although the president's chief-of-staff tweeted to deny reports it had been accepted.

Rumours have lately circulated that the urbane, US-educated Zarif, generally seen as very popular with Iranian voters, has long wanted to step down because of the immense pressure he faces both from opponents at home and from Iran’s adversaries now that the US has redoubled its sanctions-led economic attack on the Islamic Republic. He has been sounding increasingly angry in recent weeks.

Zarif gave a markedly tense interview in mid-February at the Munich Security Conference 2019 during which he accused the US and Israel of moving to create a war situation with Iran. Prior to that he addressed delegates with a fiery speech. Parts of the speech and interview went viral. Zarif accused the US of having an “obsession” with Iran for 40 years, adding, “In the past two years the US has taken its animus towards Iran to a new extreme” by rejecting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the JCPOA, informally known as the nuclear deal) and attempting to force others to violate the accord. He said that US Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke the day before him at the Munich conference, “arrogantly demanded” that Europe jeopardise its own security and leave the deal.

On February 23, Zarif criticised Iranian hardliners in a speech in Tehran, remarking: “We cannot hide behind imperialism’s plot and blame them for our own incapability. Independence does not mean isolation from the world.”

Iran observers also noted that curiously Zarif was not present during a February 25 visit to Tehran by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Instead, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander of overseas forces, Qassem Soleimani, was unusually present as Assad met Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Analysts pondered whether Zarif had been sidelined.  

The nuclear deal is opposed by hardliners in Iran who have always insisted that Washington cannot be trusted to abide by such an agreement.

Tehran-born Zarif, a 59-year-old career diplomat who has served as foreign minister since August 2013 under fellow centrist, pragmatist politician Rouhani, led the Iranian side in negotiations that in late 2015 resulted in the nuclear deal with six major powers.

Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the accord in May 2018 before reimposing heavy sanctions on Iran in a bid to strangle its economy to force Tehran to change its Middle East policies and activities. Zarif has led efforts to work with the remaining signatories to the deal—alongside Iran they are France, Germany, the UK, China and Russia—and other major trading partners such as India to limit the damage the US can cause to the Iranian economy.

However, in practical terms, the signatories, particularly the European powers who promised so much, have delivered very little given the danger of US reprisals. In the meantime, Iran has slipped back into recession. Its currency, the Iranian rial, has collapsed in value and some Iranian officials concede the country is facing the worst economic pain in 40 years. The US has said its sanctions do not target humanitarian supplies to Iran, such as food and medicines, but some observers say the evidence on the ground shows that such deliveries have indeed been severely impacted.

Born in 1960, Zarif lived in the US from the age of 17 as a student in San Francisco and Denver. He again lived in the US when he became a diplomat to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007. Zarif holds a PhD in international law from the University of Denver.

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