The announcement that Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is stepping down is proof that Washington's tough policies towards Tehran are showing results. Iran's hard-liners are winning, says DW's Matthias von Hein.
The diplomat, whose legacy is linked to the Iran nuclear deal, who studied and lived in the United States for decades and wanted to open his country, is about to call it quits. In 2015, people danced in the streets when the international agreement was reached over Iran's nuclear energy program, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Conservative leaders within Iran didn't like the deal, and they didn't like the spontaneous burst of joy and hope that came with it.
Positive effects of the nuclear deal
The deal soon touched the Iranian people's lives. There was a more lively international economic and cultural exchange and tourism began to boom — even if the benefits of the agreement didn't fully live up to the expectations. In 2017, under the impression of these developments, moderate politician Hassan Rouhani was re-elected as president in a resounding victory. Again, the people danced in the streets, at a time when new US President Donald Trump was visiting Iranian regional rival Saudi Arabia on his very first state visit. On that trip, Trump participated in a ceremonial sword dance, live for the global media to see. The symbolism of the war dance was underlined by major weapons sales to the Saudi regime.
DW's Matthias von Hein
The unilateral US exit from the Iran nuclear deal, which is binding under international law, has proven right the politicians in Tehran who argued against trusting the US and the West.
In the Iranian political system of competing power centers, Washington's strategy of putting maximum of pressure on the country ultimately weakens more moderate factions. It is a boon for conservative hard-liners.
That became clear to all on Monday as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Iranian chief diplomat Zarif was not present, and rumor has it he was not even informed about the meeting in the first place, unlike the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani, who was present.
Loss of a key advocate
With Zarif's resignation, the nuclear deal loses its most important advocate in Tehran.
International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear inspectors have now checked 13 times, and found that despite the US withdrawal, Iran has been keeping its side of the deal. Even US intelligence agencies recently confirmed that as a fact. That could change — if Zarif's resignation is ultimately accepted, the world could become a more dangerous place.
Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on
40 years ago, the revolutionaries led by Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran. Anger against the Western-backed Shah regime helped Khomeini establish his hardline Islamic system, which still dominates the country.
Image: Reuters/Official Khamenei website
'I feel nothing'
On February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran from exile in France. When a reporter asked him how he felt upon his return to Iran, Khomeini replied: "Nothing — I feel nothing." Some analysts interpreted his remarks as the Shiite leader's idea about embarking on a "divine mission" where emotions hardly mattered.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images
The Shah ran out of time
Two months before Khomeini's return to Iran, an estimated six to nine million people took to the streets in the country's major cities. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, compared to the violent September 8, 1978, protests. The Shah regime, headed by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, had realized that its time in power was over and that they could not stop Khomeini's return.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/UPI
Even women rooted for Khomeini
The revolutionary mood was so intense in Tehran that even many women celebrated Khomeini's return, ignoring the fact that Khomeini had slammed Shah's measures for women's emancipation in exile. In 1963, the Shah of Iran granted women the right to vote.
Image: picture-alliance/IMAGNO/Votava
A spectacle of exuberance
In 1971, the Shah and his wife Farah Diba (seen in the picture) staged a lavish spectacle on the ancient site of Persepolis to mark the "2,500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy." Many heads of state attended the event. Khomeini, in his message from exile, condemned the monarchy as "cruel, evil and un-Islamic."
Image: picture alliance/akg-images/H. Vassal
Exile and death
Under pressure from the Islamic Revolution, the Shah (left) had left Iran on January 16, 1979. After spending time in several countries, he succumbed to cancer on July 27, 1980 in Cairo, Egypt.
Image: picture-alliance/UPI
Consolidating power
In the beginning, women's rights were not a major issue for the Islamic revolutionaries. They only imposed hardline Islam after consolidating their victory.
Image: Tasnim
Soldiers join the revolution
Upon Khomeini's return to Iran in 1979, the military did not confront the protesters. On February 11, the army declared itself neutral. Despite that, the revolutionaries executed several generals in February and April.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPU
New government
Soon after his return, Khomeini declared the monarchy, the previous government and parliament illegal, and said he would appoint a government "because of the fact that this nation believes in me." According to Iran experts, it was not self-deception but reality.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/FY
The liberal face of the revolution
Mehdi Bazargan, a scholar and pro-democracy activist, had campaigned against the Pahlavi dynasty, for which he had been incarcerated for several years. Khomeini appointed him as his first prime minister, although Bazargan was critical of him as well. Bazargan had called Khomeini a "turbaned Shah" after a meeting with the Ayatollah in Paris. He remained in office for only nine months.
Image: Iranian.com
Occupation of the US Embassy
In November 1979, radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took the embassy staff hostage. The students were fearful of Shah's return to power with US help. Khomeini took advantage of the situation. He dismissed his opponents as "US allies."
Image: Fars
Ali Khamenei – guardian of the revolution
In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was elected by the expert council to succeed Khomeini. Khamenei, to this date, has the ultimate power over all state institutions. Although the 79-year-old does not have the same charisma as his predecessor, he represents the policies of Iranian hardliners who refuse to reform the system and continue to persecute dissidents.
