Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stepped down on Monday, announcing his resignation on Instagram.

“I am apologising you for all the shortcomings…in the past years during my time as foreign minister … I thank the Iranian nation and officials,” he wrote.

Zarif played an important role in striking a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

But he came under attack by anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the US pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions that were lifted under the deal.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “some sources have confirmed Zarif’s resignation”, but it was not clear whether President Hassan Rouhani would accept it.

Further details were not immediately available from the Islamic theocracy, where moderates are locked in a struggle with the hardline clerics calling the shots.

The US-led sanctions on the regime have also taken a toll on the country’s economy, sparking unrest.

With Post wires