Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks to the media in Tbilisi, Georgia, April 18, 2017. Photo: Reuters / David Mdzinarishvili.

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

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

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 United States 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.