Deputy foreign ministry spokesman Sayyed Abbas Moussawi confirmed Zarif's resignation in an interview with Iran state media IRNA. Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency also reported the resignation and said that it's not clear if President Hassan Rouhani has accepted the resignation. He noted that another champion of the nuclear deal, European Union foreign policy chief Federika Mogherini, is also set to step down. "That could spell an even darker prospect for the JCPOA -- and an Iranian foreign policy centered on diplomacy and engagement with the West." "Javad Zarif represented hope above reality," said Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which lobbied hard against the Iran nuclear deal that Zarif negotiated with then-Secretary of State John Kerry and European partners.

Source: CNN February 25, 2019 21:02 UTC