Mohammad Javad Zarif

Mohammad Javad Zarif served as Iran's Foreign Minister throughout Hassan Rouhani's presidency, leading the Iranian negotiating team that concluded the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2015. A US-educated career diplomat, he was Iran's ambassador to the United Nations before becoming foreign minister. He endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian in the 2024 presidential election and briefly served as vice president for strategic affairs before resigning. He was subject to US sanctions from 2019. In 2023, leaked emails revealed that his Foreign Ministry had overseen the Iran Experts Initiative, a covert influence operation run through IPIS that recruited Western-based Iranian academics to promote Tehran's nuclear negotiating positions.