p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Candara; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font: 15.0px Candara; font-kerning: none} span.s3 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #0463c1; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #0463c1} Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suddenly resigned Monday in a post on Instagram where he expressed gratitude “to the dear and honorable Iranian people for the last 67 months” while apologizing for “all the shortcomings during my service.” Zarif was the face of Iranian diplomacy throughout the nuclear talks and their aftermath and has faced relentless criticism from hard-liners over his outreach to the West.
Why it matters: The timing of Zarif’s resignation, which has so far not been accepted by President Hassan Rouhani, coincides with a visit from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at which the foreign minister was noticeably absent. That has fueled speculation that Zarif quit after losing influence.
