ranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed Mohammad Javad Zarif as the Strategic Deputy of the President, entrusting him with the responsibility of the Center for Strategic Studies.

According to The Iran Project, Zarif, who served as the Foreign Minister under former President Hassan Rouhani from 2013 to 2021, played a pivotal role in negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and Germany. This agreement, commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, was also endorsed by the UNSC. The deal lifted economic sanctions on Iran.

However, US former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018, and imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, a move that was widely criticized by various countries.