US Sanctions on Iran’s Zarif May Target his Assets, New York Visits
This article originated in Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gestures to a crowd at a June 4, 2019 ceremony in Tehran marking the 30th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whose portrait appears behind him. As Iranian foreign minister, Zarif has a seat on Iran’s influential Supreme National Security Council, a body with 12 permanent members who make policy recommendations to Khamenei for defending the nation’s Islamist leadership against internal and external threats. “No one should make any mistake that Zarif is close to Iran’s supreme leader, close to President Hassan Rouhani and a loyal foreign minister to his government,” said former U.S. Ambassador Wendy Sherman, who was Barack Obama’s chief U.S. negotiator for talks with Zarif leading to the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. Sherman spoke to VOA Persian in a Wednesday phone interview. Hooshang Amirahmadi, president of the American Iranian Council research group that seeks to improve understanding between the two peoples, said Zarif is the closest Iranian foreign minister to Khamenei since the supreme leader took office 30 years ago. Zarif has served as foreign minister since President Rouhani selected him for the post in …