Qasemi Refers to Vaezi's Statements: Zarif's Resignation Has Not Been Accepted

One day after Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry called the published text regarding this resignation "manipulated and incomplete" and stated that Hassan Rouhani has not accepted this resignation. According to ISNA news agency, Bahram Qasemi emphasized on Tuesday, December 7, that the resignation of the Foreign Minister has not been accepted by the President of Iran. However, these statements do not indicate that Mr. Zarif's resignation has been completely rejected. So far, Hassan Rouhani has not directly and clearly reacted to the resignation, only mentioning in a speech: "Today, our frontline against America is the Foreign Ministry, the Central Bank, and the Ministry of Oil. I thank Dr. Zarif, Mr. Hemmati, and Mr. Zangeneh for their steadfastness." Vaezi: From Rouhani's perspective, the Islamic Republic only has one Foreign Minister. In this context, Mahmoud Vaezi, Rouhani's chief of staff, also wrote on his Instagram account referring to the President's statements that from Rouhani's perspective, the Islamic Republic of Iran "only has one foreign policy and one Foreign Minister." The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry also denied the text published about Mr. Zarif's resignation letter, stating that this text is "manipulated and incomplete." He did not specify which parts of this text were "manipulated." According to the text published on some conservative websites, including "Rahe Dana," Mr. Zarif stated that the reason for his resignation was the "release of photos" of the meeting between the Syrian President and the Iranian President. According to this report, Mr. Zarif wrote in this text addressed to Hassan Rouhani: "If... you valued the credibility of the Foreign Minister in the international arena even a little, after Mr. Bashar Assad's (assuming you were not previously informed) arrival at your office, you would have instructed that I be summoned without stating a reason, and then photos and videos of the meeting would be taken. My office is five minutes away from the presidential palace, Mr. President." Zarif's resignation and the nightmare of the diplomatic sheikh. On Monday evening, the website Entekhab reported that Mr. Zarif, in response to a question from this website, stated: "After today's meeting photos, Javad Zarif no longer has credibility as Foreign Minister in the world." Neither Mohammad Javad Zarif nor other officials from Iran's Foreign Ministry were present in the photos released from the meeting between Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, with Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and Hassan Rouhani on Monday. In these meetings, Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was present. Mr. Soleimani was seated in the position of the Syrian President during the meeting with Hassan Rouhani. Meanwhile, Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, identified the main reason for the Foreign Minister's resignation as "the interference of irresponsible institutions in foreign policy" and stated that the President should not have allowed "military forces and others" to interfere in foreign policy from the beginning. He added: "The President should prevent pressures on the country's foreign policy apparatus, but Mr. Rouhani has retreated everywhere since the beginning of the twelfth government." From "disheveled revolutionary" to "respectable enemy." Some Telegram channels have considered Mr. Zarif's resignation a political move for news-making and the approval of bills related to the Financial Action Task Force, stating that this resignation was coordinated with Hassan Rouhani. However, Morteza Sarmadi, the Deputy Foreign Minister, rejected "some suspicions" regarding this resignation in a meeting of the Central Council of the Hope Fraction of Parliament, emphasizing that Zarif's resignation was not coordinated with the President. Nevertheless, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry considered any interpretation and analysis of the reasons for this resignation, except for what Mr. Zarif wrote on his Instagram page, as "incorrect and devoid of any truth." Zarif: I hope my resignation serves as a wake-up call for the Foreign Ministry to return to its legal position. In his first comment after the sudden resignation, Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed hope on Tuesday morning that his action would be a "wake-up call" to restore the Foreign Ministry to its "legal position." About 160 members of Parliament have requested the President to oppose Mr. Zarif's resignation. Mr. Zarif's resignation has faced severe criticism from conservatives in the Islamic Republic, including Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesperson for the faction of principled representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, who stated that "this faction does not agree with the Foreign Minister's resignation," saying: "It is not right to flee the field whenever calamities and problems confront us and only save ourselves." Some conservative media activists have also called on Twitter for Mr. Zarif to be prosecuted for overshadowing the meeting between the Syrian President and the leader of the Islamic Republic due to the announcement of his resignation. This trip has been of great importance to the close associates of the leader of the Islamic Republic, and media close to the Revolutionary Guards have referred to it as a "victory for the resistance front." Ayatollah Khamenei also told Bashar Assad that he has "become a hero of the Arab world" and that "resistance in the region has gained more power and dignity" through him. Islamic Republic officials refer to Bashar Assad and armed Palestinian and Lebanese groups as the "resistance front against Israel."