TEHRAN (AA): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday rejected aresignation letter tendered by his foreign minister, Javad Zarif.
In a subsequent statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Behram Qasimi saidthat none of the explanations offered for the FM’s attempted resignation —except for Zarif’s — were factual.
In a statement released earlier Tuesday, Mahmoud Vaezi, director of theIranian Presidency’s office, said Rouhani had wanted Zarif to maintain thepost.
“In [President] Rouhani’s opinion, Iran has only one foreign policy and oneforeign minister,” Vaezi said.
Zarif, for his part, told reporters earlier Tuesday that his plannedresignation was aimed at “maintaining the credibility” of his ministry.
“The ministry’s reputation is tied to national security,” he asserted. “Theresignation was meant to preserve the ministry’s credibility on theinternational stage.”
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A number of Iranian MPs have since signed a petition urging Zarif to remainat the post, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency has reported.
Other local media reports, meanwhile, have attributed Zarif’s attemptedresignation to Monday’s visit to Tehran by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that beganin 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpectedferocity.
This was followed by eight years of conflict between the regime and armedopposition groups during which Iran has consistently supported the former.
