UPDATE: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the resignation of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
In a letter addressed to Zarif and published by state news agency IRNA, President Hassan Rouhani wrote, “As the Supreme Leader has described you as a ‘trustworthy, brave and religious’ person in the forefront of resistance against widespread U.S. pressures, I consider accepting your resignation against national interests and reject it.”
Zarif had announced that he would be stepping down on Monday via a post on Instagram, and on Wednesday acknowledged his position on the same platform, simply posting an Iranian flag.
Khamenei’s support for the foreign minister, who has been blamed by hardliners for the 2015 nuclear deal they see as disadvantageous, reaffirms his position and is likely to be seen as a sign that the supreme leader favors diplomacy.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif announced on Monday that he is stepping down. Announcing his resignation on Instagram, Zarif apologized for his “shortcomings,” but did not provide a specific reason for the move.
Pressure has been mounting on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s administration, with calls for the president’s resignation growing as the economic picture worsens. Rouhani has not yet accepted Zarif’s resignation, but that appears to be a formality.
Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told ThinkProgress that she has known Zarif for over 20 years and sees him as someone “dedicated to restoring a normal diplomatic relationship between the United States and Iran.”
She said his resignation is “bad news” and makes her “worry about the future” in Iran, as hardliners there might try to take advantage of the current situation. The country’s Revolutionary Guard, in lockstep with hardliners, might also be in a position to gain even more power.
Iran has been struggling with major downturns — notably, inflation and the exodus of foreign investment — since President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on the country last fall, after he pulled the United States out the 2015 nuclear deal, violating the terms of the agreement.
The Trump administration has been pushing for major changes in Iran’s foreign policy as well as its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iran has remained in the nuclear deal, which saw it curbing its enrichment activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Other parties to the deal, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, and Russia, have also opted to honor the deal.
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference last week, Zarif noted that the Trump administration has taken “animus towards Iran to a new extreme” as it not only violated the nuclear deal, but “is now even laboring to force others to violate that Resolution, which explicitly calls for normalization of economic relations with Iran.”