page_title: Mohammad Javad Zarif
section_title: Nuclear agreement
hierarchical_section_title: Mohammad Javad Zarif / Minister of Foreign Affairs / Nuclear agreement
caption_attribution_description: English: Secretary Kerry posed with his fellow E.U., P5+1, and Iranian counterparts at the Austria Center in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2015, for a group photo shortly after the formal announcement of the agreement concluding the Iranian nuclear negotiations. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
context_page_description: Mohammad Javad Zarif is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He has been foreign minister of Iran since 2013. During his tenure as foreign minister, he 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. On 25 February 2019, Zarif resigned from his post as foreign minister. His resignation was rejected by President Hassan Rouhani and he continues as foreign minister.
  Before assuming his current position, he 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 adviser and senior adviser 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.
context_section_description: On 21 November it was reported by Iranian negotiators that progress was being made in talks in Geneva with world powers, expressing hope to bridge differences and sign an elusive deal over Tehran's nuclear drive. In statements carried by Iranian media after a one-hour meeting with Baroness Ashton, Zarif said "Differences of opinion remain and we are negotiating over them. God willing we will reach a result." Three days later, the Geneva interim agreement, officially titled the Joint Plan of Action, was signed between Iran and the P5+1 countries in Geneva, Switzerland. It consisted of a short-term freeze of portions of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions on Iran, as the countries worked toward a long-term agreement.
caption: Zarif posed for a group photo shortly after finalizing the Iran nuclear deal in Vienna on 4 July 2015
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