Analysis by PMOI/MEK
March. 1, 2019 – Following the official rejection of his resignation by Hassan Rouhani, the president of the mullahs’ regime in Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif returned to work on Wednesday as the regime's top diplomat. This resignation and return by Zarif has in fact intensified and shed more light on the regime’s growing crises, both inside the country and on the international stage.
“The Foreign Minister’s resignation, coming at the worst possible timing, can lead the West into reaching this conclusion that Iran’s economic and living conditions, the political status quo and especially at the senior decision-making level, is completely engulfed in crises,” according to a newspaper associated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Even media outlets close to Rouhani described Zarif’s resignation as a major blow to the regime’s stature in the international community. On the other hand, IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani – most likely under orders from the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – specifically said Zarif is in charge of the regime’s foreign policy.
This recent episode has catapulted the mullahs’ dilemmas into a whole new level, especially following the U.S. withdrawal from the highly flawed and controversial 2015 nuclear deal and the fact that Tehran continues to kick the can down the road in regards to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) resolutions.
“This resignation shows that the government plays a small role in defining the country’s foreign policy,” according to the state-run Fararu website.
“Policy and power have no place in the government. This has deep meanings and Zarif’s resignation ended the government’s stature in Iran’s political spectrum in regards to our international policy. From an outsider’s point of view, the government and Foreign Ministry have no meaningful role or influence on this matter,” the same outlet wrote citing Mehdi Motaharnia, an expert close to Rouhani’s inner circle.
“If Zarif intends to actually return to the government apparatus as foreign minister, following the method he chose to announce his resignation, it will actually be the beginning of his end… the country’s foreign policy is not in the hands of the government for it to change with a foreign minister or even the president. The country’s foreign policy is forced to swing in specific directions and the final decisions in regards to the U.S. will be made in the coming six months,” he added.
Fereydoon Majlesi, a former regime diplomat also shared his concerns on this topic.
“This is no longer a tactical issue. It is very much a strategic subject that needs our destroyed foreign policy’s return to a path opened through the 2015 nuclear deal… In such circumstances, if we fail to fully adopt the FATF resolutions, this could lead to even the president having no choice but resigning,” he wrote.
On the other hand, Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Kayhan daily, known as Khamenei’s mouthpiece, expressed his fury over the fact that Zarif’s resignation fiasco overshadowed the regime’s intention to launch a propaganda campaign around Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s Tehran visit.
“This resignation came precisely coinciding with the visit of Bashar Assad to Tehran! … The Foreign Ministry has not delivered an acceptable report card under Zarif and it finally ended with the nuclear deal catastrophe as the main such example in this regard… Our foreign enemies are describing Zarif’s resignation in a manner to ridicule the [regime] as a failed state,” he said.
