On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced that his cabinet would be composed of several conservatives and only one woman. This announcement sparked backlash, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategy, subsequently resigned. Pezeshkian’s allies have accused him of abandoning his campaign promises to bring change to Iran. Zarif’s resignation comes as a shock, as the former vice president had campaigned for Pezeshkian across the country. Zarif posted online, stating that he, “could not bring about the kind of domestic change that people had expected.” The resignation comes at a time of turmoil in the Middle East, and Zarif would likely have been needed as a foreign policy expert and prominent negotiator.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/12/world/middleeast/iran-cabinet-zarif-resignation.html