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Mohammad Javad Zarif

Former Vice President for Strategic Affairs of Iran

Mohammad Javad Zarif (born 7 January 1960) is an Iranian diplomat and academic. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2013 and 2021.

Javad Zarif

Quotes

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Interview to CNN

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  • His (Donald Trump) threats will not frighten us. But what he is showing something- he is showing to the International community that he has no respect for International law, that he is prepared to commit war crimes because attacking cultural sites is a war crime and disproportionate response is a war crime. But he doesn't care, it seems, about International law. But he has made U.S. more secure? Do Americans feel more secure? Are Americans welcome today in this region? Do they feel welcome?
  • Beautiful military equipment don't rule the world, People rule the world. People.

Revolution

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  • "The concept of a velvet revolution in Iran should not be considered as groundless fear."
  • "We do not jail people for their opinions[.]"
  • "All ethnicities and groups in Syria should begin the process of reconstruction within a single unit under the Syrian flag."(during his visit to Damascus on September 2018). IFP News (2018-09-03).
  • "Currently, Americans have focused on psychological warfare and are doing their best to place psychological pressure on Iranians and our international partners." (during an interview with the state TV). IFP News (2018-08-26).
  • "In order to practice dialogue, you need to be able to set aside your assumptions and try to listen more than you want to talk. It’s not always politically correct to be able to do that, but it can give you a better sense of the reality. I have benefited from the knowledge and the information that all these people have been able to provide to me. I have disagreements with some and more agreements with others. But that doesn’t mean I cannot listen to those I disagree with." According to Wright, Robin (2014-05-26). The Adversary. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.

On social media

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  • "Iran never denied it [The Holocaust]. The man who was perceived to be denying it (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is now gone."
    • 4 September 2013 on his Twitter account, replying to Christine Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter and a former chief of staff for Representative John Tierney, of Massachusetts. According to Wright, Robin (2014-05-26). The Adversary. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.
  • "The art of a diplomat is to conceal all turbulence behind his smile."

Quotes About Mohammad Javad Zarif

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By his professors

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  • "[He was] good in the classroom. At that time ... I thought he'd play an important part in his country's life."
    • Ved P. Nanda, Thompson G. Marsh Professor of Law at the University of Denver, who taught Zarif and was on his dissertation committee. According to Wright, Robin (2014-05-26). The Adversary. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.
  • "He was among the very best students that I’ve ever taught, He’s just a very nice person."
    • Edward Thomas Rowe, Associate Professor of Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, who led the committee that oversaw Zarif’s dissertation. According to Nussbaum, Matthew (2015-07-12). Iranian diplomat Zarif made impression at DU. The Denver Post. Retrieved on 2015-07-12.

By Israeli counterparts

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By American counterparts

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A respected adversary. ~ Henry Kissinger
  • "[Zarif is] extremely well-informed [about the US] and deeply knowledgeable [about his own country]. He's admirably suited by temperament, background and education to work on these issues that have divided the US and Iran for 34 years".
  • "Zarif had achieved the final breakthrough without which the [Hamid] Karzai government might never have been formed [in Afghanistan]".
    • James F. Dobbins, the State Department's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in his testimony before the U.S. Congress. According to Wright, Robin (2014-05-26). The Adversary. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.
  • "Zarif is a tough advocate, but he’s also pragmatic, not dogmatic, He can play an important role in helping to resolve our significant differences with Iran peacefully."
  • "He doesn’t play games, He doesn’t produce incendiary sentences. He is thoughtful. He is real. He wants to help his people and lead them in a different direction. That’s important to me in my measurement of a person.”
  • "To [Zarif] a respected adversary."
    • Henry Kissinger wrote in a copy of his book Diplomacy which gave Zarif as a gift in a farewell party shortly before leaving the U.N. in 2007. According to Wright, Robin (2014-05-26). The Adversary. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.
  • "He [Zarif] was intelligent, courteous, disciplined, interesting to talk to, I conducted the conversation to educate myself, so I did not try to persuade him [Zarif] of any particular approach, except my basic theme was that, on the basis of national interests, there is no conflict between Iran and the United States. Everything beyond that is ideological."

By European counterparts

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  • "He’s a craftsman. The proof is the 123 lives that we brought back to their families and homes".
    • Giandomenico Picco, an Italian diplomat and the former U.N. hostage negotiator about Zarif’s "invaluable" role, between 1989 and 1991, in freeing Western hostages held by in Lebanon. According to Wright, Robin (2014-05-26). The Adversary. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-04-04.

By writers

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  • In September 2013, a month after Obama backed down from launching strikes against Assad to punish him for using chemical weapons, he and President Rouhani spoke on the phone while they were both at the UN General Assembly. The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, sat down for a tête-à-tête. It was the highest level of contact between the two countries since 1979. The Saudis were shocked and felt deeply betrayed. They had long since moved on from the era of détente in the 1990s and had a particular aversion to back channels between Iran and the United States. They’d felt betrayed before by such talks, and it made them feel deeply insecure about their place in the Middle East and their role as America’s top ally in the Arab world. The Saudi-US alliance, based on oil for security, had its limitations, and the relationship had been sorely tested by events like the September 11 attacks. Meanwhile, there were policymakers in Washington who felt Iran held more promise of turning into a democracy than a desert kingdom with an absolute monarchy. The Saudis were apoplectic when they heard such musings. The Obama administration also believed that if a deal could be reached while the reformers were in power, an improved economy would further strengthen the reformers and show how much the hardliners had failed the people.
    • Kim Ghattas, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East (2020)
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