Montajabnia: There Will Be Opposition to Khatami's Resignation

Resul Montajabnia, the resigned deputy of the National Trust Party of Iran, predicted that the central council of this party would oppose Mehdi Khatami's resignation from the position of secretary-general. Mr. Montajabnia stated in an interview with the Tuesday, December 27 issue of the newspaper 'Etemad' that 'not all members of the central council' agree with this resignation. Expressing regret over Mehdi Khatami's resignation, he added, 'I sent him a message saying I strongly oppose raising this issue and request that it not be discussed even in private meetings.' Mr. Montajabnia said, 'The credibility and dignity' of the National Trust Party depend on Mr. Khatami, and 'I personally am very sorry for this decision and the circumstances that led to it.' He announced efforts to hold a central council meeting of the National Trust Party next week to discuss this matter and added, 'Provincial and county secretaries and members have expressed their strong concern upon hearing this news and have declared their opposition.' This member of the National Trust Party also expressed hope that Mehdi Khatami's house arrest would soon be lifted and that the party would enter the upcoming presidential election with his secretary-generalship. Mehdi Khatami, the secretary-general of the National Trust Party and one of the leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, resigned from his position in a letter dated December 27. He has been under house arrest since February 2011. Mir Hossein Mousavi, another leader of the 2009 protests, along with his wife Zahra Rahnavard, has also been under house arrest since February 2011. According to reports, Mehdi Khatami requested in his letter that the members of this party accept his resignation and elect a new secretary-general 'without the interference of emotions and feelings' and due to 'more important interests.' He wrote in his letter that due to the 'illegal' house arrest, the end of which is 'unknown,' he cannot pursue party matters. Previously, Mehdi Khatami's children criticized President Hassan Rouhani, accusing him of not adhering to his electoral promises to lift the house arrest of Iran's opposition leaders. The resigned secretary-general of the National Trust Party has requested that the members of this party elect a new secretary-general 'under the management' of Resul Montajabnia, the deputy of the National Trust Party. Mr. Khatami's letter regarding the election of a new secretary-general 'under the management' of Resul Montajabnia comes while the ISNA news agency had previously reported Mr. Montajabnia's resignation from the position of deputy secretary-general of the National Trust Party. According to this report, the central council of the National Trust Party agrees with the 'interaction' of this party with the Supreme Policy Council of Reformists, but Mr. Montajabnia had announced his opposition to this decision. Following these disagreements, the public relations of the National Trust Party announced that this party has no spokesperson, but Ismail Gerami-Moghadam, the spokesperson of this party, responded to this announcement by saying that changing the spokesperson is the responsibility of the central council. The National Trust Party was established in 2005 with Mehdi Khatami at its center, and after the protests against the 2009 presidential election, the spokesperson of this party announced that its office had been sealed. However, after the eleventh presidential election in Iran, which resulted in Hassan Rouhani's victory, senior members of this party announced its return to the political arena.