On Oct. 24, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry were announced as the winners of the annual Chatham House Prize for their role in striking a nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).

Iran�s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi quoted Zarif saying, �This prize belongs to the Iranian nation.� Qassemi then stated that various institutions have asked Zarif to be a nominee for their prizes, but that he refused. �Chatham House doesn�t have this process and rule to ask individuals regarding this, and they nominate people without asking them. In Mr. Zarif�s case, this happened.� Qassemi also announced that Zarif would not visit London for the award ceremony due to his �tight schedule.�

Most of the prominent Reformist and moderate newspapers welcomed the news by covering it on their front pages Oct. 25.

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This article was written by Rohollah Faghihi for Al-Monitor on Oct. 25, 2016. Rohollah Faghihi is a journalist who has worked for various Iranian media outlets.