Iran’s Zarif says he resigned to return foreign ministry to ‘proper’ role
Tehran’s top envoy urges diplomats to not follow him in quitting, but to remain and work in defense of the country; calls infighting ‘deadly poison’

TEHRAN, Iran — Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Iranian diplomats Tuesday not to resign en masse following his shock announcement he was quitting but to keep up their work defending Iran’s interests.
The announcement on Instagram late on Monday by Zarif, the lead negotiator of Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, prompted reports that large numbers of diplomats were considering resigning too in a show of support.
But in comments to ministry staff on Tuesday, Zarif said: “I advise all you dear brothers and sisters in the foreign ministry and embassies to resolutely follow your duties in defense of the country and refrain from such acts.”
The official IRNA news agency said Zarif had also commented for the first time on the reason for his announcement.
“I hope my resignation will act as a spur for the foreign ministry to regain its proper statutory role in the conduct of foreign affairs,” it quoted him as saying.
There was no immediate indication President President Hassan Rouhani had accepted the resignation and a petition urging him not to was signed by a majority of members of parliament, senior lawmakers said.

According to Iran’s Entekhab news agency, Zarif’s resignation appears to be linked to a surprise visit by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Tehran on Monday.
The top diplomat was not present at any of the meetings Assad had with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Rouhani, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.
Entekhab said it tried to reach Zarif and received the following message: “After the photos of today’s meetings, Javad Zarif no longer has any credibility in the world as the foreign minister!”
As the lead negotiator in the nuclear deal, Zarif’s standing within Iran’s political establishment took a hit when the US withdrew from it and reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions last year.
Ultra-conservative MPs tried to impeach him, only backing down in December as the initiative lost steam.
Zarif said his main concern throughout the negotiations for the nuclear deal had been about pressure from inside Iran.
‘Deadly poison’
In an interview with the conservative Jomhoori Eslami newspaper published Tuesday, he said partisan disputes over foreign policy were “a deadly poison.”
“We first have to remove our foreign policy from the issue of party and factional fighting,” Zarif said in the interview conducted last week, according to Reuters. “The deadly poison for foreign policy is for foreign policy to become an issue of party and factional fighting.”

Zarif told the newspaper that he had followed the instructions of Khamenei when negotiating a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, over which he has faced criticism criticism at home from hardliners.
Zarif said it is US President Donald Trump who should be criticized for pulling out of the agreement last May.
“Instead of condemning Trump, why do you come and condemn the elected president of the people? You come and condemn the foreign policy?” he said. “What result does that have? The result is that people will become hopeless about the future.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.