Zarif-Kerry joint prize raises eyebrows in Iran
For Iran's foreign minister, winning an international prize may not be good news as hard-liners could use it as a pretext to attack him.
On Oct. 24, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry were announced as the winners of the annual Chatham House Prize for their role in striking a nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi quoted Zarif saying, “This prize belongs to the Iranian nation.” Qassemi then stated that various institutions have asked Zarif to be a nominee for their prizes, but that he refused. “Chatham House doesn’t have this process and rule to ask individuals regarding this, and they nominate people without asking them. In Mr. Zarif’s case, this happened.” Qassemi also announced that Zarif would not visit London for the award ceremony due to his “tight schedule.”
Most of the prominent Reformist and moderate newspapers welcomed the news by covering it on their front pages Oct. 25.
Under the headline “The joint prize of Zarif and Kerry,” Reformist Shargh newspaper wrote that despite the opposition of the Board of Deputies of British Jews to Zarif’s speech at Chatham House last year, the managers of this think thank were not swayed.
