Iran former top diplomat Zarif returns to VP post

Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Tuesday announced he was returning to his post as vice president to Masoud Pezeshkian after submitting his resignation earlier this month.

Pezeshkian named Zarif as his vice president for strategic affairs on 1 August, but the former top diplomat resigned less than two weeks later, citing his disappointment with the line-up in the 19-member cabinet.

He also said he faced pressure because his children hold dual US citizenship.

Conservatives in Iran have criticised Pezeshkian for choosing Zarif, who became known on the international stage for his vital role in negotiating the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. However, Zarif was also foreign minister for much of Iran's brutal intervention on behalf of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

"After the follow-ups and consultations conducted by the president and with his written order, I will continue to exercise my duties as Strategic Vice President," Zarif said in a post on X.

Zarif -- who attended on Tuesday the new cabinet's first meeting with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- also praised the new cabinet in his post.

Last week, all the members of Iran's new cabinet were granted a full vote of confidence from parliament, marking the first time in over two decades a president got all his nominees through the body.

Zarif, who has represented Iran in the United Nations, served as the country's top diplomat between 2013 and 2021 under moderate president Hassan Rouhani.

The 2015 nuclear deal was effectively torpedoed three years later when the US unilaterally pulled out, but it helped cement Zarif's reputation as a combative negotiator who nonetheless opened Iran up to the West.