Former foreign minister, architect of the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is the new vice president and strategic affairs adviser to President Masoud Pezheskian.
Zarif will be responsible for monitoring major national and international developments and how well the Iranian government is achieving its goals.
The new vice president is seen as close to reformers, with no open conscription, and served as Iran’s foreign minister from 2013 to 2021, during the days of self-styled moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
The key role in nuclear
He was actively involved in Pezeskian’s election campaign and is considered to have played a key role in his victory. He was a key negotiator, from the Iranian side, in the process that led to the historic international agreement on the nuclear energy program concluded with six major powers and the European Union in 2015, formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
But the deal, which provided for an easing of international sanctions against Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities, began to fray in 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump withdrew his country, reimposed and tightened sanctions on of Iran.
Appointment amid effervescence
Zarif generally advocates improved relations with the West and direct dialogue with the US, the archenemy of Iran’s clerical regime.
The 69-year-old new president Pezheskian reportedly wants to create a new foreign policy. “We want to open new horizons” and “expand our friendly relations with the outside world” to end Iran’s “isolation”, he has said, according to Iranian media.
However, Zarif’s appointment comes amid a fresh escalation of tensions in the region, following the assassination in Tehran of the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Ismail Haniya, which both his faction and Iran blamed on Israel.
Pezeskian said there would be retaliation, while Zarif condemned the killing of Ismail Haniya, without issuing any threats.
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