Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs and formerly its Foreign Minister, resigned from President Masoud Pezeshkian’s cabinet on Sunday, citing unaddressed shortcomings within the new leadership, according to Rudaw.
Zarif, age 64, addressed the people of Iran in a message posted on X, writing, “I am not satisfied with the outcome of our work and am ashamed that I could not adequately implement the expert opinions of the committees or fulfill the promises I made regarding the inclusion of women, youth, and ethnic groups.”
“Shortcomings” with the list of cabinet nominees submitted by Pezeshkian for parliamentary approval pushed him to make the decision, he added.
Zarif, who was appointed to the post of vice president just days ago, also pointed out that some of Pezeshkian’s deputy positions have yet to be appointed.
Pezeshkian had presented his proposed cabinet members to the parliament earlier on Sunday. The list consisted of 19 nominees, including one woman.
According to Zarif, of the 19 ministers introduced “three were the first-choice nominees, six were the second- or third-choice nominees, and one was even the fifth-choice nominee,” of the advisory committees and the steering council to Pezeshkian.
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.