US Secretary of State Reacts to Mohammad Javad Zarif’s Resignation

The announcement of Zarif’s resignation, Iran’s Foreign Minister, through social media networks has received widespread coverage in international media outlets. Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, was among the first to express his position on Zarif’s resignation.

Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation through an Instagram post. His resignation will only become official with formal acceptance by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s President. According to Mahmoud Vaezi, Chief of Staff to the President, Hassan Rouhani has refused to accept Zarif’s resignation.

News of Zarif’s resignation has been confirmed by official media of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A development that has received extensive coverage in international media and news agencies.

France Press Agency on Tuesday, the seventh of Esfand (February 26), in a report published from Washington, reflected the statements of Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, regarding news of Zarif’s resignation.

Pompeo called Mohammad Javad Zarif one of the “puppets of Iran’s corrupt religious mafia” and said that America is following the matter.

The US Secretary of State wrote in a Twitter post that Zarif and Hassan Rouhani are puppets in the hands of the corrupt religious mafia ruling Iran.

Pompeo wrote in this Twitter post: “We know that final decisions rest with Khamenei. Our policy toward Iran will not change. The Iranian regime must behave like any other normal country and respect its own people.”

The Farsi website of the US State Department also followed Pompeo’s tweet by publishing a tweet about Zarif’s resignation. The language used in this tweet is similar to Mike Pompeo’s rhetoric and refers to the “corrupt religious mafia” and that all decisions rest with Khamenei.

Increased Pressure on Zarif

Politicians from other countries have not yet reacted to Zarif’s stepping down from his position. It appears that attention at this moment is focused on the Iranian government, Rouhani’s stance, and Khamenei’s decision.

France Press Agency, like several other news agencies, has pointed to the phenomenon of increased pressure on Mohammad Javad Zarif by conservative forces in Iran and evaluated it as the reason for his decision to step down.

In this news agency’s report, it stated that the US withdrawal from the JCPOA has led to increased pressure from hardline forces on the Rouhani government and the government’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The agency continued to write that Iran’s conservative and hardline forces view the nuclear agreement as a bad deal and hold Zarif and the Rouhani government responsible for it. In France Press Agency’s report, it was noted that according to conservative forces

Source: DW