Tehran: behind Zarif's resignation, the Ayatollahs' clampdown on the reformist government

After only nine months, the architect of the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA) leaves his post as vice-president. The decision comes after a meeting with the head of the judiciary who allegedly ‘invited’ him to leave, returning to the academic world. The Majles votes for the dismissal and impeachment of Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati.

Tehran (AsiaNews) - Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian vice-president with responsibility for Strategic Affairs, has resigned (again) after only nine months in office, depriving the government of President Massoud Pezeshkian of a long-standing diplomat and one of the advocates of dialogue with the West. The architect of the negotiations that led to the signing of the historic 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA) with the administration of then US President Barack Obama, the politician and intellectual made his decision official after a meeting with the head of the judiciary. The latter had in fact urged him to return to academic life, to ‘ease’ the already strong pressure on the executive from the radical and ultra-religious wing in Tehran.

In a message posted on social media, Zarif himself expressed his ‘gratitude’ for the opportunity given to him to ‘serve’ the nation, while describing the last six months as the ‘bitterest period’ of his forty-year career due to insults, threats and slander. These attacks have targeted the long-standing politician and his family, and have also involved his dual citizenship. The far-right party ‘Front of Perseverance’ has led the smear campaign, repeatedly calling for his resignation because he was a child ‘US citizen’.

In an Islamic Republic divided between the dialogue front and the extremist wing that refers to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has confirmed the rejection of any form of dialogue with the West (and Washington), Zarif was seeking the weapon of talks to ease the sanctions. A fundamental step, in an attempt to revive the economy of a nation marked by a very serious crisis and with inflation at record levels that has thrown most families into crisis.

In the message in which he formalised his withdrawal, the architect of the nuclear agreement expressed the hope that his departure would ‘remove’ the obstacles to the government's ‘successes’ and to the fulfilment of the ‘demands’ of the Iranian people. The official news agency Irna reported the resignation, specifying that President Pezeshkian - in favour of dialogue with the White House, but who excludes it in the near future due to the firm opposition of the supreme leader to negotiations with the USA - has yet to reply to the letter.

Zarif's resignation from the government - for the second time in less than a year, again due to ‘pressure’ from the radical wing - comes on the same day that the Iranian Parliament impeached the Minister of Economy Abdolnaser Hemmati: officially for his ‘failures’ and inability to revive the country's finances and alleviate the crisis that is gripping the population. In reality, behind this decision, once again, there would appear to be the well-known desire for dialogue and ‘rapprochement’ with the United States and Europe. The 273 members of the Majlis - the Islamic Consultative Assembly, firmly in the hands of the ultra-conservatives - present voted to remove Hemmati from office and impeach him with 182 votes in favour, 89 against, one abstention and one invalid vote.

The MPs who voted for the minister's removal accused him of worsening economic conditions since he took office last August: from the depreciation of up to 60% of the national currency (rial) against the US dollar on the market during his term, to the surge in prices of basic necessities, including food and medicine. Defending his minister, Pezeshkian urged members of the Assembly not to dismiss a key man in his government, arguing that Tehran is facing a crisis even more serious than the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The president admitted that the sale of oil was critical due to the latest round of sanctions, with oil tankers ‘struggling to unload’ shipments. During the debate, some legislators accused Hemmati of supporting the negotiations with Washington - which he denied - and of blaming all the Islamic Republic's economic problems on the sanctions.