Iran’s Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, who held the post of Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic from 2013 to 2021, intends to resign. He announced this on August 11 in the social network X (ex. Twitter).
Zarif stated that he was not satisfied with the result of his work at the head of the advisory council on the formation of a new cabinet of ministers and that, contrary to his promises, he could not get expert approval from the committees concerning women, youth and ethnic minorities.
He also expressed the hope that politicians who will receive the position of vice-president in the future will be able to correct the shortcomings indicated by him. Zarif noted that he was grateful to the president for the opportunity to participate in the “bold initiative” to select candidates for the cabinet.
Zarif was appointed to the post of Vice President of the Republic for Strategic Affairs by the decree of the newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian on August 2.
On August 11, Pezeshkian proposed the candidacies of the foreign ministers and the Ministry of Defense of the country. The head of Iran presented the list of politicians to the parliament.
Early presidential elections in Iran were scheduled after the death of President Ibrahim Raisi in a plane crash on May 19. The accident occurred when he was returning from a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. In addition, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was also in the crashed helicopter, Izvestia reminds.
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