Kim Sengupta: Zarif's fall isn’t just dangerous for Iran – it will bolster America’s flawed view of the Middle East
The offer of resignation from Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian
foreign minister, is of great importance to Iran and the outside world. His
departure will significantly weaken the reformist government of Hassan
Rouhani, strengthen the country’s hardliners and help the Trump
administration’s quest for regime change in Tehran.
The grave concern
about what is unfolding was shown by 150 out of 290 members of the Iranian parliament signing
a petition urging Zarif to stay within hours of him announcing, via
Instagram, he was leaving, and other MPs saying they too will be
putting their names on it.
The Tehran Stock
Exchange index fell 1.1 per per cent in 24 hours, and the country’s business people and
bankers’ association expressed anxiety about the reaction of foreign investors
– whose numbers are already dwindling after the reimposition of American
trade sanctions – to the news.
Zarif was the key
architect on the Iranian side of the agreement with international states over
its nuclear programme – an agreement which took years to negotiate and one
which five of the signatories (Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China), as
well as the UN, stressed was working and making the world a safer place.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iran-mohammad-javad-zarif-us-middle-east-a8797821.html