By Betsy Pisik - World Peace Herald - Washington D.C., U.S.A.Monday, July 2, 2007
Iranian ambassador leaves NY after 5 years
Javad Zarif is leaving this month after five years as Iranian ambassador to the United Nations and nearly two decades in his country's New York mission. He expects to return to Tehran and teach.
The ambassador is the kind of effortlessly smooth diplomat who can banter with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad (a protocol no-no, as the countries have officially severed diplomatic relations) and then dismiss the implications with a wave of his hand.
"We were talking about poetry, not politics," he said, starting a brief discussion about the Persian poet Rumi.
Mr. Zarif, 48, was educated in the United States, where he has lived for nearly 30 years. Nonetheless, as an Iranian official, he does not shake hands with female ambassadors and rarely eats meat prepared by other missions because it may not be sufficiently halal, or kosher.
He is tireless in explaining — and defending — Iran's positions to confused or alarmed foreign governments. Tehran's denial of the Holocaust? No, it was more of a defense of the Palestinian lands. Nuclear weapons? Not at all, he says, simply an enthusiasm for civilian nuclear power. The fact that the Group of 77 developing nations support Tehran against the Security Council and many openly urge Iran to go for the nukes, he says, is merely a reflection of frustration with Israel.
He will be replaced by Deputy Economic Minister Mohammad Khazai, who is well-known in international finance circles.
Javad Zarif is leaving this month after five years as Iranian ambassador to the United Nations and nearly two decades in his country's New York mission. He expects to return to Tehran and teach.
The ambassador is the kind of effortlessly smooth diplomat who can banter with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad (a protocol no-no, as the countries have officially severed diplomatic relations) and then dismiss the implications with a wave of his hand.
"We were talking about poetry, not politics," he said, starting a brief discussion about the Persian poet Rumi.
Mr. Zarif, 48, was educated in the United States, where he has lived for nearly 30 years. Nonetheless, as an Iranian official, he does not shake hands with female ambassadors and rarely eats meat prepared by other missions because it may not be sufficiently halal, or kosher.
He is tireless in explaining — and defending — Iran's positions to confused or alarmed foreign governments. Tehran's denial of the Holocaust? No, it was more of a defense of the Palestinian lands. Nuclear weapons? Not at all, he says, simply an enthusiasm for civilian nuclear power. The fact that the Group of 77 developing nations support Tehran against the Security Council and many openly urge Iran to go for the nukes, he says, is merely a reflection of frustration with Israel.
He will be replaced by Deputy Economic Minister Mohammad Khazai, who is well-known in international finance circles.
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