Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif resigned from his office on Sunday, implying in his resignation letter that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni and other hardliners in the government forced him from power. 

Zarif was considered a moderate or "reformist" in Iran's government, which only means he wasn't as hardline as Khameni and other officials.

He was instrumental in brokering the 2015 nuclear deal with the U.S., known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which then-President Barack Obama entered into and President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term in office.

Zarif and former moderate President Hassan Rouhani endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian, a fellow moderate, in the June 2024 special election to replace hardline President Ebrahim Raisi after he died in a helicopter crash, and Pezeshkian won.

Second attempt

Zarif was actually Vice President for Strategic Affairs, one of several vice presidential positions in the Iranian government, but he campaigned alongside Pezeshkian like the vice president does here in America.

He had already tried to resign once, only two weeks into his term, during a struggle over Pezeshkian's cabinet.

At the time, Pezeshkian refused to accept his resignation.

Zarif continued to be targeted by hardliners who thought he was too moderate.

Did he violate the law?

His opponents have tried to invoke an Iranian law that they say prohibits anyone from holding office if they or their children have dual citizenship. Zarif's children were born in the United States during Iran's mission to the United Nations, of which Zarif was a part.

This means they are naturalized American citizens with passports.

Zarif said in a social media post that he had endured “the most ridiculous insults, slanders, and threats against my family in the past six months.”

It was “the most bitter” time of his 40 years in government service, he said.

He said the chief justice of Iran, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, advised him to go back to lecturing at university so the government would be under less pressure.

Zarif favored negotiating a new deal with President Donald Trump, but an edict by Khameni forbade the negotiations in February.