Mohammad Javad Zarif: From 'Disheveled Revolutionary' to 'Respectable Enemy'

On the day when the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic embraced Bashar al-Assad with a sense of victory, Iran's Foreign Minister resigned. While Syrian President Assad met with Ayatollah Khamenei and Hassan Rouhani, Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was present, and Mohammad Javad Zarif was absent. Therefore, this resignation has been interpreted as a reflection of the disagreements regarding Assad's visit. Although there are fewer disagreements between Zarif and the Supreme Leader's close associates on regional issues compared to topics like the JCPOA, which continue to persist. Zarif resigned, and the head of the Iranian President's office denied the acceptance of Zarif's resignation, but some have spoken of the end of Zarif's career. Zarif resigned a day before a scheduled speech at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, where his speech was expected to be a highlight of his tenure. During the Iran-Iraq War, after consulting with Saeed Emami and Cyrus Naseri, he narrated the story of 'Buz Buz Qandi' or, in other words, the tale of 'Shangul and Mangul and a Grape' in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, placing the United States in the role of the 'wolf' in the story. The US representative remarked that the Iranian representative values this committee so much that he tells tales. This is a peak of Zarif's confessions about his inexperience in the early years of his work at the UN when, at the age of 23, he effectively served as the second representative of Iran at the UN. Zarif acknowledges that significant material and political costs have been paid for that disheveled revolutionary youth to reach a position where Henry Kissinger, the former US National Security Advisor, referred to him as a 'respectable enemy,' or John Bolton, the then US representative at the UN, stated he could not believe the Islamic Republic had such a diplomat. His presence in the US and proficiency in English were among Mohammad Javad Zarif's advantages for working at the Iranian consulate in San Francisco and later representing Iran at the UN. He went to the US at the age of 17 and, in an interview with Mohammad Mahdi Raji in the book 'Mr. Ambassador,' mentioned that the reason for his trip was a warning from his teachers, fearing that his activities could cause 'trouble' for himself and the school. He notes that several participants in classes where 'forbidden books' were taught, which he also attended, were arrested, leading to this warning. Zarif also states that he participated in revolutionary meetings and in the Hojjatieh Association meetings at Ayatollah Mahmoud Halabi's house. His father, while being religious, opposed the revolutionaries and had relationships with clerics opposed to the revolution in Isfahan, including Ayatollah Shams Abadi. Even his father's friend, who facilitated his exit from the country, had collaborated with the SAVAK. Both Zarif's father and maternal family were merchants, and he studied at the famous Alavi High School. In 1973, at the age of 14, he delivered a speech at the memorial service for Reza Roozbeh, the head of Alavi High School, and he was also a speaker at some religious holidays at the school. Zarif studied mathematics in high school and initially studied computer science in the US, but Hossein Sheikh al-Islam, a member of the Islamic Associations in America who later became Iran's ambassador to Syria and a member of the seventh parliament, advised him that 'anyone can become a computer specialist, but not everyone can be a good politician for the Islamic Republic.' Following this advice, Zarif began studying international relations. His involvement in the Iranian Student Association in Berkeley alongside figures like Mohammad Hashemi, brother of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Javad Larijani, and Mohsen Nourbakhsh, likely influenced Zarif's approach. After the 1979 revolution, when the Islamic Republic officials had no trust in the remaining diplomats from the Shah's regime, Zarif, at the age of 20, began working at the Islamic Republic's consulate in San Francisco. Shortly after, while studying at university, he became a local employee of the Islamic Republic's representation at the UN and held positions such as advisor and chargé d'affaires until 1987, even though he was not yet an employee of the Foreign Ministry. His presence at the UN during a time when the Islamic Republic's diplomats were unaware of the workings of international organizations and even attempted to behave unusually, including showing up at the UN in military jackets, is notable. Zarif admits that on his first day, he went to the Iranian representation at the UN wearing a jacket and had no suit. During these years, while the Islamic Republic was engaged in conflicts with Western countries, the Iran-Iraq War was also ongoing. Zarif states that he wrote the letter of acceptance of UN Resolution 598 to the UN, using the term 'tantamount' to imply acceptance of this resolution while simultaneously not carrying the legal meaning of acceptance. This letter, according to him, is known in the international section of Iran's Foreign Ministry as the 'tantamount letter.' After that, he became part of the negotiating team with Iraq after the war alongside Cyrus Naseri, advisor to Ali Akbar Velayati, the then Foreign Minister. This team included Hassan Rouhani, the head of the parliamentary defense committee. He held positions such as chargé d'affaires and advisor at Iran's representation at the UN until 1987, and even completed his military service there after finishing his doctorate. In 1988, after Kamal Kharrazi was appointed as Iran's representative at the UN, Zarif became his deputy until 1992, when Ali Akbar Velayati appointed him as the deputy for international affairs at the Foreign Ministry, a position he held for ten years. In the last three years of Khatami's presidency, Zarif returned to the US as Iran's representative at the UN. Zarif's long-standing presence in New York, while Khamenei's other representative at the UN, Kharrazi, had become Foreign Minister, led to the term 'New York gang' being used by conservative critics of the Foreign Ministry, and even some reformist media adopted this term. Following the escalation of the Iranian nuclear file issue during Khatami's second term, and the delegation of nuclear negotiations to the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Velayati proposed that Mohammad Javad Zarif, Cyrus Naseri, and Mohammad Reza Alborzi take charge of the negotiations. Hassan Rouhani, as the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, was responsible for the overall leadership of the nuclear negotiation team, while Zarif was responsible for conducting the negotiations. Zarif also remained Iran's representative at the UN for two years during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. According to Zarif, Ahmadinejad intended to dismiss him before his trip to New York, but the Supreme Leader did not agree to this request. Zarif has repeatedly stated that during those two years, he was not assigned any tasks and was under 'significant pressure' psychologically, to the extent that after his dismissal and the issuance of a visa for his successor, he felt relieved and, despite previously being a 'heavy smoker,' he no longer smoked. Although Zarif had retired in 2010, he was introduced to the parliament after Hassan Rouhani's victory and received a vote of confidence with 232 votes in favor, 36 against, and 13 abstentions from 281 present representatives. During his tenure as Foreign Minister, he had the most experience compared to previous ministers. In the confidence vote session, while opponents referred to him as 'Iran's olive branch to the world' based on Western media, he claimed that after the first Security Council resolution against Iran's nuclear program was passed, he spoke at the UN in such a way that the British ambassador to the UN said at the embassy's meeting the next day that this speech should be taught in diplomacy classes for British diplomats to understand how to defend their national interests. From the very early days, Zarif appeared different from previous foreign ministers, including his significant presence on social media and in the media. His ministry and Hassan Rouhani's government also marked a period of many firsts in Iran's Foreign Ministry, including the handshake between the Iranian Foreign Minister and the US President, meetings between Iranian and US foreign ministers, phone calls between the Presidents of Iran and the US, and the appointment of a female spokesperson and then a female ambassador. The sidelines of the Iranian nuclear negotiations also frequently made headlines for Zarif, including the phrase 'never threaten an Iranian,' which was repeatedly echoed by government-affiliated media. Zarif has faced opponents from both political factions at various times; before the hardliners labeled him 'American,' Ali Akbar Mohtashami, a prominent cleric of the leftist faction and Minister of Interior in Mir Hossein Mousavi's government, had called him 'American' in a cabinet meeting, and due to these oppositions, his appointment as head of Iran's representation at the UN in 1987 was canceled. In October 2013, the headline of Kayhan newspaper read 'Zarif: Rouhani's conversation with Obama and my meeting with John Kerry was inappropriate,' which severely impacted Zarif, leading him to the hospital, and he attended nuclear negotiations in a wheelchair during those days. In contrast, Zarif's defense of certain human rights violations in the Islamic Republic has drawn criticism from opponents of the regime. For instance, his denial of the existence of political and ideological prisoners in Iran during an interview with Charlie Rose received widespread backlash, and he later stated that his remarks were only in response to a question about Jason Rezaian. Previously, in 2013, he referred to the beating of Mir Hossein Mousavi's daughters by one of their parents' guards as a 'bitter' incident in a somewhat implicit reaction on Facebook. Aside from political issues, the personal life of Foreign Minister Hassan Rouhani is also somewhat different from previous foreign ministers. Zarif's wife, unlike the wives of previous foreign ministers, appears in public ceremonies wearing a manteau. Zarif stated that he married at 19, while his wife was 17. Zarif's son and daughter have also followed in their parents' footsteps, marrying at ages 19 and 17, respectively, in a time when early marriage is not very common. Zarif mentioned that he had not listened to music until the age of 15 and had no talent in arts like painting, but his son plays the santur and his daughter plays the piano. Some jokingly refer to Zarif's beard as a symbol of his political positions; with a 'professorial beard' in the role of a diplomat and with a 'full beard' closer to the Supreme Leader. Speculation about Zarif as a potential candidate for future presidency has circulated, but he has emphasized that he has no expertise in domestic politics and will not run. Perhaps it was with the perception of Zarif's popularity that Hassan Rouhani took him to his supporters' rally in Isfahan's Naqsh-e Jahan Square during the 2017 elections, an action that was somewhat unconventional, partly because Zarif had previously warned Foreign Ministry managers who had signed a statement supporting Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri that this action was against the Foreign Ministry's charter. His participation in the fourth congress of the Iranian Call Party in December this year also fueled speculation about his potential candidacy in the 2021 presidential elections, although the connection between these two matters was later denied. At the end of the interview, Mohammad Mahdi Raji asked Zarif about the similarities and differences between him and Hossein Qoli Khan Sadr al-Saltaneh, known as Haji Washington, the first ambassador of Iran to the United States, and Gholam Ali Haddad Adel gifted Zarif 'the daily notes of Mohammad Ali Foroughi.' These two figures could symbolize Mohammad Javad Zarif's future political life. Perhaps Zarif will not follow either path. Minutes after Zarif's resignation, speculation arose on social media about his candidacy in the presidential elections. However, he stated that he would never run.