Iran’s VP Zarif steps down amid pressure from hard-liners

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s former Foreign Minister and current Vice President, on Monday tendered his resignation from the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian, The Associated Press reported.

According to the report, Zarif’s decision followed mounting pressure from hard-liners, who have long criticized Zarif. This is not the first time he has attempted to resign in the face of such pressure.

According to state-run IRNA news agency, Zarif submitted his resignation late the previous night to President Pezeshkian, though it was unclear whether the president accepted it. This marks the second time Zarif has attempted to resign from his position as vice president for strategic affairs.

On social media platform X, Zarif shared that he had met with the head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, on Sunday.

“Referring to the country’s conditions, he recommended that I return to university to prevent further pressure on the government. I immediately accepted,” he wrote.

Zarif did not provide details on Mohseni-Ejei’s advice, and no official readout from the judiciary has been released. However, hard-liners have long targeted Zarif, citing a law that bars individuals with children holding foreign passports from holding sensitive public offices in Iran. Zarif’s children are US citizens, as he had lived in the United States while serving as a staffer with Iran’s mission to the United Nations.

Zarif served as Iran’s Foreign Minister from 2013 to 2021 in the government of former President Hassan Rouhani.

During his time in office, Iran in 2015 signed the nuclear deal with world powers, from which Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 when he served as US President.

He is known for his statements against the US and Israel. In 2020, Zarif defended Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s use of a poster evoking Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” to destroy Israel.

In 2021, he predicted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go “into the dustbin of history”. He made similar comments about Trump when his term as president concluded.

That year, Zarif canceled his visit to Vienna over Austria’s show of solidarity with Israel as it was being attacked by rockets from Gaza.

His latest resignation follows Sunday’s impeachment of Finance Minister Abdolnasser Hemmati. While lawmakers focused on Hemmati’s handling of Iran’s plummeting rial currency, his removal highlights the challenges facing Pezeshkian, who had campaigned on a platform of outreach to the West in hopes of lifting sanctions.