TEHRAN: Iran`s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who negotiated the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, has resigned as vice president, state media said on Monday.

`Zarif`s resignation letter was received by President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has not yet responded,` the official IRNA news agency reported, without giving further details.

In a Monday post on X, Zarif said he had `faced the most horrible insults, slander and threats against myself and myfamily, and I have gone through the most bitter period of my 40 years of service. `To avoid further pressure on the government, the head of the judiciary recommended that I resign and... I accepted immediately,` he added.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July, named Zarif as his vice president for strategic affairs on Aug 1 but Zarif resigned after less than two weeks, before returning to the post later in the month.

Zarif was Iran`s top diplomat between 2013 and 2021 in the government of moderate president Hassan Rouhani.-AFP