Serving as the minister of foreign affairs of the President Hassan Rouhani from 2013 to 2021, he was Iran’s chief negotiator in the nuclear talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement was endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, but former U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the deal, imposing harsh unilateral sanctions on Iran under the name of maximum pressure.

President Pezeshkian, in another decree, appointed Mohammad Jafar Qaem Panah, an optometrist, as his deputy for executive affairs and chief of the presidential staff.