Mohammad Javad Zarif
Mohammad Javad Zarif | |
|---|---|
محمدجواد ظریف | |
Zarif in 2025 | |
| Vice President of Iran for Strategic Affairs | |
| In office 1 August 2024 – 2 March 2025 | |
| President | Masoud Pezeshkian |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Mohsen Esmaeili |
| Advisor to the President of Iran Head of Center for Strategic Studies | |
| In office 1 August 2024 – 2 March 2025 | |
| President | Masoud Pezeshkian |
| Preceded by | Mostafa Zamanian |
| Succeeded by | Mohsen Esmaeili |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran | |
| In office 15 August 2013 – 25 August 2021 | |
| President | Hassan Rouhani |
| Deputy | Morteza Sarmadi |
| Preceded by | Ali Akbar Salehi |
| Succeeded by | Hossein Amir-Abdollahian |
| Chief Nuclear Negotiator of Iran | |
| In office 6 September 2013 – 14 July 2015 | |
| President | Hassan Rouhani |
| Deputy | Abbas Araghchi |
| Preceded by | Saeed Jalili |
| Succeeded by | Abbas Araghchi (as head of JCPOA follow-up commission) |
| Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations | |
| In office 5 August 2002 – 25 July 2007 | |
| President | Mohammad Khatami Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Hadi Nejad Hosseinian |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Khazaee |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 January 1960 Tehran, Pahlavi Iran |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | see below |
| Signature | |
| Website | Government site |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | San Francisco State (BA, MA) University of Denver (MA, PhD) |
| Thesis | Self-Defense in International Law and Policy (1988) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | School of International Relations University of Tehran Islamic Azad University |
Mohammad Javad Zarif (Persian pronunciation: [mohæmːædd͡ʒæˌvɒːde zæˌɾiːf]; born 8 January 1960) is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He served as the vice president for strategic affairs from August 2024 to March 2025. He was the foreign minister of Iran from 2013 until 2021 in the government of Hassan Rouhani.
During his tenure as foreign minister, Zarif led the Iranian negotiation with P5+1 countries which produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on 14 July 2015, lifting the economic sanctions against Iran on 16 January 2016. Zarif resigned from his post as foreign minister in February 2019. His resignation was rejected by Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and he continued as foreign minister.
Zarif has held various significant diplomatic and cabinet posts. He is a visiting professor at the School of International Relations and University of Tehran, teaching diplomacy and international organizations. He was the Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations from 2002 to 2007. He served as an advisor and senior advisor to the Foreign Minister, Deputy Foreign Minister in Legal and International affairs, member of the UN Eminent Persons Group on Dialogue Among Civilizations, Head of the UN Disarmament Commission in New York, and Vice President for International Affairs of the Islamic Azad University.