Mohammad Javad Zarif Speaks at NYU
Iranian Foreign Minister greeted by ice cream protest
April 29, 2015
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at NYU on April 29, 2015. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images)
Today at NYU, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, conversed with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
After dogs sniffed the area, and authorities with plastic earpieces secured it some more, hundreds sat down and awaited the Iranian diplomat who met with John Kerry at the U.N. yesterday to continue to negotiate a nuclear deal.
Behind a lush curtain, where Zarif was waiting, the crowd could catch glimpses of what appeared to be armed men in fatigues.
Outside, a small peaceful protest took place on the corner of Washington Square South and West 4th St., an NYU nexus. There, activist David Keyes and his “freedom fighters” who wished to “punk” Zarif, served free Van Leeuwen ice cream to passersby, in part to celebrate “Iran’s recent milestone of 1,000 hangings,” Keyes wrote in an email.
Shrouded by green, white and red balloons, Keyes’ group pasted posters onto the truck. One read, “Jason Rezaian Park,” a plea to free the journalist who has been detained in Tehran for nine months.
Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.
