Pezeshkian appoints Javad Zarif his deputy

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed Mohammad Javad Zarif as his deputy for strategic and the chief of the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies.

Zarif, 64, was foreign minister from 2013 to 2021 under President Hassan Rouhani. He was Iran’s chief negotiator in the nuclear talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement, endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, was ditched by former President Donald Trump as he withdrew the United States., the main party to the agreement, from the deal

Zarif also served as Iran’s representative at the United Nations during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

Pezeshkian, who took oath office in the Parliament on Tuesday, also chose Mohammad Jafar Qaem Panah as his deputy for executive affairs and chief of the presidential chief of staff.

An optometrist, Qaem Panah had worked with Pezeshkian when he was the chancellor of Tabriz University and health minister in the Khatami government.

 

Iran: Zarif to lead transitional council

Iran's President-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian, has appointed former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as the head of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations for the transition period in his first presidential decree. 

Zarif was one of the most prominent reformist figures backing Pezeshkian during his presidential campaign. The former foreign minister became a household name after he brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. 

The council, comprised of experts and advisors, will focus on assessing potential candidates for key cabinet positions and ensuring a seamless handover of leadership. 

In a message on his X account, Zarif said Pezeshkian has yet to choose candidates for any vice-presidency or ministerial positions. 

"So far, no candidate for any position, including first vice president, has even been considered,” the former top diplomat announced. "The review process will start after receiving proposals from NGOs, scientific associations, trade associations, and the private sector." 

The council is reportedly set to convene meetings with various stakeholders on Saturday to conduct thorough evaluations of potential candidates.

Pezeshkian's office had earlier issued a call for input on cabinet members, inviting a wide range of social groups and political parties to participate in the process. 

 

Chinese Foreign Minister in Iran for strategic talks

Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi arrived in Tehran on Friday for talks with senior Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said assessing ways to strengthen strategic partnership and sharing views about regional and international issues will feature high in the talks.

The Ministry also said the two-day visit of Wang is a “step toward strengthening comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.”

Prospects of long-term cooperation and the ways to implement comprehensive strategic partnership will be the main topic of talks between Zarif and Wang, the ministry added.

Concurrent with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Tehran and Beijing, the two chief diplomats will also inaugurate an exhibition on historical documents about cooperation between the two countries on Saturday.

The two foreign ministers also plan to sign a comprehensive cooperation document between Islamic Republic of Iran and People’s Republic of China.

Wang is the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to pay an official visit to Iran since Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit in 2016, Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran, told the Global Times on Friday. 

Hua also called Iran a key country on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and one of the major oil exporters to China.

The nuclear issue will also be a key topic during the visit, according to Hua.

"The withdrawal of the Trump administration from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a big blow to Iran's economy. In fact, Iran wants the United States to return to the deal, and China can coordinate with it," the former ambassador said.

The visit Chinese Foreign Minister has been scheduled days after top diplomats from China and the United States agreed at high-level talks in Alaska that Iran was one of the issues on which they could work together, despite their many differences, including on human rights in Xinjiang.

Security and stability in West Asia

In an interview with Al Arabiya on Wednesday, Wang proposed five initiatives to achieve security and stability in West Asia, noting that getting rid of geopolitical competition among great powers is the fundamental way to end the chaos. 

As for the Iran nuclear issue, Wang pointed out that the US should take concrete measures to ease unilateral sanctions against Iran and its ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ over third parties, while Iran should resume fulfilling its nuclear commitments.

At the same time, Wang said, the international community should support the efforts of regional countries to establish a West Asia zone free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

All parties should discuss and formulate a route and timetable for the resumption of implementation of the JCPOA in accordance with the merits of the development of the Iran nuclear issue, Wang said, according to the Global Times. 

China and Russia say US should return to JCPOA unconditionally

In the meeting between Wang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday, the two senior diplomats said the United States should unconditionally return to the JCPOA as soon as possible and revoke the unilateral sanctions imposed against Iran. 

Only China can act as a ‘peace-broker’ in the Iran nuclear issue, said Li Haidong, a professor of international relations at China Foreign Affairs University, "especially after China has exchanged ideas with the US in Alaska, then with Russia and then with Iran… and no other major international issue can be separated from China's participation and coordination."

Foreign Minister Wang started his tour of West Asia on Wednesday. He first visited Saudi Arabia and then Turkey. After concluding visit to Iran, he will fly to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and make a working visit to Oman.

South China Morning Post said the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and alliances will be high on agenda of Wang’s visit to West Asia.

Remembering Halabja chemical carnage of 16th March 1988 by Iraqi dictator Saddam

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticized duality of Western policies towards Middle East and West Asia. He condemned them for supplying chemical weapons to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, which Saddam used against Kurdish people in northern Iraq on 16th March 1988.

“16th March 2021 is the 33rd anniversary of the chemical carnage in Halabja. Some care not to remember those who provided Saddam with the deadly chemicals, which killed over 5,000 innocent civilians. Still, want to talk about ‘malign regional behavior’, the Iranian foreign minister said in a tweet.

The tweet came in under heightened tensions between Iran and the West over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The United States withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 under Donald Trump. Now Joe Biden says that reviving the nuclear deal is not enough and that other issues such as Iran’s influence in the region and its defensive missile program must be included in any future talks, something that Iran firmly rejects.  

The West claims that Iran’s influence in the region is malign, but Iran officials say it’s the United States that pursues malign behavior in the region. 

In March 2019, Zarif had said the Iranian and Kurdish brothers in Iraq will never forget the Halabja and Sardasht chemical attacks. “First they denied it happened—then they blamed Iran. When it was clear it was their own ally, using their own chemical weapons, they were silent. The West may like to forget about horrors of Halabja and Sardasht—31 years ago today—but neither we nor our Kurdish brethren, ever will,” Zarif tweeted at the time. 

On March 16, 1988, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered his air force to attack Halabja in northern Iraq with chemical bombs, using nerve agents such as VX and mustard gas to kill thousands of innocent civilians. The attack killed between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injured 7,000 to 10,000, most of them civilians.

The Halabja attack was part of the Al-Anfal Campaign in northern Iraq. The attack has been recognized as a distinct event of genocide conducted against the Kurdish people by the Saddam. The Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as an act of genocide on March 1, 2010.

In March 2020, Iran’s Consul General in Sulaymaniyah, Mehdi Shoushtari, said that the Iraqi Baath regime’s chemical attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in northern Iraq was a “big anti-human tragedy.”

“Undoubtedly, this criminal incident against the innocent people of Halabja by a criminal regime through using chemical weapons manufactured by certain Western countries, which make claims about defending human rights, was one of the biggest anti-human tragedies,” he said in a message to Halabja Governor Azad Tofigh.

Shoushtari also said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran fulfilled its Islamic and humanitarian duty in this respect and supported the people of Halabja. These supports continued in different periods of time during history such as fighting terrorism and extremism.”

Iranian Foreign Minister meets Taliban delegation in Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met on Sunday with a Taliban delegation led by deputy head of the group’s political bureau Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. In the meeting, Zarif welcomed the idea of formation of an all-inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic and political groups in Afghanistan, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Political decisions could not be made in a vacuum, and the formation of an all-inclusive government must take place in a participatory process and by taking into account the fundamental structures, institutions and laws, such as the Constitution,” the statement quoted Zarif as saying in the meeting.

The chief Iranian diplomat expressed Iran’s readiness to facilitate dialogue among the Taliban, the Afghan government and other Afghan groups, noting, “The noble people of Afghanistan have been wronged. The war and occupation of Afghanistan have dealt heavy blows to the Afghan people.”

He expressed hope that the Taliban would focus efforts on an immediate end to the pains and problems of Afghan people so that the establishment of peace in Afghanistan would strip the outsiders of a pretext for occupation.

According to a Tasnim report, Zarif also voiced support for an all-inclusive Islamic government in Afghanistan.

“We support the formation of an all-inclusive Islamic government with the participation of all ethnicities and sects and consider it necessary for Afghanistan,” Zarif was quoted by Tasnim as telling the Taliban delegation. He underlined the need for the Taliban to avoid targeting the people of Afghanistan.

Zarif also told the Taliban delegation that the United States is not a good mediator.

The Taliban delegation, for its part, gave a report of the Afghan peace process and the intra-Afghan negotiations.

“Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar also noted that the relations between Afghanistan and Iran are based upon friendship and good neighborliness, expressing hope for the expansion of relations between the two countries with the establishment of peace and calm in Afghanistan,” the statement noted.