Netanyahu on Zarif’s Resignation: ‘Good Riddance’

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the resignation of Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“Zarif is gone, good riddance,” Netanyahu stated, adding that “as long as I am here, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”

Zarif announced on Monday evening that he was resigning and expressed thanks for the support he received for his services in the last 67 months while extending his “apologies for inability to continue service.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has yet to endorse Zarif’s resignation, who is considered one of the leading figures in his Cabinet.

Together with former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Zarif was the architect of the 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the P5+1 world powers, which supposedly halted Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions on the country.

Israel has long stated that Iran has not truly abandoned its drive toward an atomic bomb and that Zarif’s diplomatic pleasantries were only a façade.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that the U.S. “notes Zarif’s resignation. We’ll see if it sticks…

“Either way, he and Hassan Rouhani are just front men for a corrupt religious mafia. We know [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei makes all final decisions. Our policy is unchanged — the regime must behave like a normal country and respect its people,” Pompeo added.