Political Cartoons Target Kerry & Zarif

June 11, 2015

Conservative press outlets in Iran have gone to town with publishing political cartoons on the maladies of Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the two lead negotiators in the nuclear talks. Kerry, who broke his leg in a bicycle crash on May 31 in Switzerland, is recovering from surgery in a Boston hospital. And Zarif reportedly missed a conference in Tehran on June 2 due to back and leg problems that necessitated a hospital visit. Zarif’s back pain, a recurring issue, previously left him a wheelchair during nuclear talks in Geneva in 2013. The following is a roundup of recent cartoons.

Translation:
     Kerry: “I had an accident, why are you in a wheelchair again?”
     Zarif: “I'm following in the footsteps of Takhti [a legendary Iranian wrestler] who wrestled with one hand when his opponent had a broken arm.”
 
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Translation: The red board is labeled “Iran’s red lines.”
 
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Translation:
     Obama: “Hi John! How are the talks going?”
     Kerry: “Don’t worry Barack! We are on the right path (shortly before going off the road).”

 

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Translation: “Oh, Barack, you placed too many complications on the [path] to the [nuclear] deal that it eventually came back to haunt us.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Sina Azodi, a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, contributed to this roundup.