Zarif says that he will not run for the presidential elections
Iranian secretary of state Mohammad Javad Zarif officially announced that he wouldn’t run in upcoming presidential elections, hours before his plane landed at Damascus airport.
A number of reformist websites reported that former President Mohammad Khatami, Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the previous Supreme Leader Khomeini, did not persuade Zarif to run within the elections.
During a executive session to debate the leaked audio on Sunday, Zarif informed the parliament that he doesn’t shall run within the presidential elections, in an effort to say that he doesn’t have electoral goals.
Zarif addressed the Iranian citizens through an Instagram post saying his candidacy for this year’s elections isn’t within the interest of the country and therefore the people.
He said he had made the choice not on the idea of private interests or for his own convenience, but because “I have reached this conscientious conviction that me running wouldn’t be within the best interest of the country and therefore the nation given the perturbations that are displayed within the past eight years.”
Zarif said that the elections are going to be fateful, explaining that not voting may be a choice, “but one that might only cause the victory of the minority.”
He implicitly criticized the pressures he has been subjected to since the Iranian New Year , pertaining to a television series about Western intelligence services spying on the nuclear negotiating team.
The FM announced his upcoming regional and European tour, remarking that it’s “within the framework of the foreign minister’s duties,” and isn’t regarding the nuclear negotiations in Vienna aimed toward reaching an agreement.
Zarif mocked his opponents, urging them to specialise in local issues, the priorities of guarding national interests, and protecting people from US sanctions.
