Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stepped down on Monday, announcing his resignation on Instagram. “I am apologising you for all the shortcomings…in the past years during my time as foreign minister … I thank the Iranian nation and officials,” he wrote. Zarif played an important role in striking a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. But he came under attack by anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the US pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions that were lifted under the deal. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “some sources have confirmed Zarif’s resignation”, but it was not clear whether President Hassan Rouhani would accept it. Further details were not immediately available from the Islamic theocracy, where moderates are locked in a struggle with the hardline clerics calling the shots. The US-led sanctions on the regime have also taken a toll on the country’s economy, sparking unrest. With Post wires<doc-sep>Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stepped down on Monday, announcing his resignation on Instagram. "I am apologizing to you for all the shortcomings ... in the past years during my time as foreign minister ... I thank the Iranian nation and officials," Zarif wrote on his Instagram page jzarif_ir. On Monday, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency confirmed the resignation, citing Abbas Mousavi, a government spokesman. There was no immediate reason offered for what prompted Zarif's resignation. President Rohani is yet to make a decision on whether to accept it. >> Zarif says Israeli strikes in Syria could lead to war On Sunday, Zarif criticized Iranian hard-liners in a speech in Tehran, saying: "We cannot hide behind imperialism's plot and blame them for our own incapability." "Independence does not mean isolation from the world," he said. In an interview published Tuesday by the daily Jomhuori Eslami, Zarif seemingly elaborated on his resignation. "A deadly poison for foreign policy is that it becomes the subject of factionalism and parties' quarrel," Zarif reportedly said. "There should be trust toward servants of foreign policy on the national level. Without trust in them, everything will go with the wind." Zarif said he hoped his sudden resignation would reinforce the position of his fellow diplomats, hinting at a dispute with the security apparatus and hard-liners." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a post on Twitter, dismissed Zarif and Rohani as "frontmen for a corrupt religious mafia." "Our policy is unchanged - the regime must behave like a normal country and respect its people", Pompeo said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded Tuesday morning on Twitter to the news of Zarif's resignation, writing in Hebrew: "Zarif is gone, good riddance. As long as I am here, Iran won't have nuclear weapons." Zarif played an important role in striking the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. But he came under attack by anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the United States pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions that were lifted under the deal. Earlier on Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad made an unannounced trip to Iran, where he met with the supreme leader and other top officials to discuss the planned U.S. troop withdrawal and Turkey's efforts to set up a buffer zone in northern Syria. Zarif was however not present for a meeting with Assad. Assad met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rohani on the rare trip abroad — his first to Iran since the civil war broke out in 2011. Earlier Monday, Zarif met with members of the activist group Code Pink in Tehran, smiling as he posed for a photograph with them. However, he was not seen in images later in the day showing Assad meeting with Khamenei and Rohani. Zarif's resignation called to mind a similar move in 1988 by then-Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, said to have been triggered by outside pressure. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at the time opposed the resignation and Mousavi continued his job. It was unclear if Assad's visit to Tehran had an impact on Zarif's decision. On Tuesday, authorities shuttered the pro-reform Ghanoon daily which had in its early edition of the day called Assad an "uninvited guest" on the front page. The paper said on its Telegram channel that it was closed until further notice. Later on Tuesday, and without mentioning the resignation, Rohani praised Zarif as well as Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh and Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati as soldiers on the battlefield against U.S. pressure. "Today, the front line against the U.S. are the foreign and oil ministries as well as the Central Bank," Rohani said in a televised address. "Zarif, Hemmati and Zanganeh have stood in the front line." Prominent pro-reform lawmaker Ali Motahari said Zarif's resignation came in response to the "interventions by unaccountable bodies in foreign affairs." He said Rohani was unlikely to accept the resignation "since there is no alternative" for Zarif.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has rejected the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to the country’s semi-official Fars news agency. “The presidential office said the resignation had not been accepted,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said, Fars reported Tuesday. The nation’s top diplomat announced his intention to step down from his post, which he has held since 2013, on Instagram on Monday evening. Rouhani is required to accept the resignation in order for the move to go into effect, according to Iranian law. Qasemi said any speculation about the reasons for Zarif’s resignation beyond what appeared on his Instagram page is incorrect, reported Fars. “I sincerely apologize for the incapacity to continue serving and all the shortcomings during the service,” Zarif wrote on Instagram, adding, “Be happy and upbeat.” In an interview with the semi-official ISNA news agency, Zarif said he hoped his sudden resignation would act as a “wake-up call for restoring the Foreign Ministry to its real and legal position in foreign affairs.” Zarif was the key architect in the landmark 2015 deal aimed at reining in Iran’s nuclear program, which US President Donald Trump withdrew from last year. He has been Iran’s foreign minister since 2013 and is well known in western circles. He was educated in the United States and speaks English fluently. Earlier on Monday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Iran on his first publicized official visit to the country since 2010, and Zarif did not appear in official photographs of the meetings. Assad met separately with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and with Rouhani. In both meetings, the leader of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, appeared alongside Assad. Soleimani is widely credited with being the mastermind of Iran’s campaign to prop up Syria’s embattled president during the country’s ongoing war. How Hwee Young/AP Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on February 19. Zarif’s noticeable absence at the high-profile meeting appeared to be the latest in a string of tensions between the moderate government of Rouhani and hardliners, which include the Revolutionary Guards, backed by Khamenei. “Clearly there is dissatisfaction on Zarif’s part with the way things are going in terms of the authority he and his ministry are experiencing,” said Al Monitor’s Iran Pulse Editor Mohammad Ali Shabani. “It’s not something that happened overnight. It’s been going on since day one.” On Tuesday, Rouhani appeared to attempt to appease Zarif. In a speech, the president said Assad conveyed his thanks to the foreign minister, and attributed Iran’s “great success” in facing off with US sanctions partially to the foreign ministry. “In the region we pulled off a great success and this great thing – this came on the back of efforts by all our forces. Part of that was on the shoulder of the foreign ministry, part of that was on the shoulder of the economy,” said Rouhani. Zarif left Iran in 1977, received his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University in 1981, his master’s in international relations from the University of Denver in 1984 and his doctorate from the University of Denver in 1988. Both of his children were born in the United States. “He plays a very unique role because there are not many like him in the system,” said Shabani. “With his background, his mastery of media, fluency in English. These may sound small things but they can have a big impact on how you can conduct your work as the chief diplomat.”<doc-sep>Gain a global perspective on the US and go beyond with curated news and analysis from 600 journalists in 50+ countries covering politics, business, innovation, trends and more.<doc-sep>
DUBAI- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the urbane, U.S.-educated architect of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, announced his resignation unexpectedly on Monday on Instagram. "Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologize for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy," he wrote on his Instagram page jzarif_ir.He gave no specific reasons for his decision.Zarif played the lead role in striking the deal under which Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international financial sanctions.He came under attack from anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the United States pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions on Iran's economy and its lifeblood oil industry that were lifted under the deal.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a post on Twitter, dismissed Zarif and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as "front men for a corrupt religious mafia. ""Our policy is unchanged - the regime must behave like a normal country and respect its people," Pompeo said.A spokesman for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, Alireza Miryousefi, confirmed the announcement of the resignation. There was no immediate word, however, on whether Rouhani would accept it.Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said "some sources have confirmed Zarif's resignation." A foreign ministry spokesman confirmed his resignation, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.If accepted, Zarif's resignation will further weaken pragmatist Rouhani, who is facing mounting pressure from his hardline rivals over the handling of Iran’s economic struggles.Born in 1960, Zarif lived in the United States from the age of 17 as a student in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Iranian ambassador from 2002-07.He was appointed minister of foreign affairs in August 2013 after Rouhani won the presidency in a landslide on a promise to open up Iran to the outside world.Although Rouhani, as the president, is responsible for choosing ministers, Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei traditionally has the last say over appointment of key ministers, including the foreign minister. Since taking charge of Iran's nuclear talks with major powers in late 2013, Zarif has been summoned to parliament several times by hardline lawmakers to explain about the negotiations.In February 2014 he caused an uproar with public comments condemning the Holocaust and was subsequently summoned to parliament. Holocaust denial has been a staple of public speeches in Iran for decades.Some hardliners even threatened Zarif with bodily harm after the nuclear deal was signed. Khamenei, guardedly backed the deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its sensitive nuclear work.A former commander of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hassan Abbasi, said in a speech earlier this month he believed Iranian people would spit on Zarif and those officials who supported the nuclear pact with powers. "Rouhani, Zarif and (parliament speaker Ali) Larijani, go to hell," Abbasi said in the central city of Karaj, Iranian media reported.