Rouhani's Chief of Staff Denies 'Rumors of Exit from JCPOA and Zarif's Resignation'

Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian President, on Thursday, January 20, described reports regarding the resignation of Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iran's exit from the nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, as "lies" with "anti-national interests". The Chief of Staff of Hassan Rouhani wrote on his Twitter: "The news of Dr. Zarif's resignation and Iran's exit from the JCPOA, which have been published simultaneously, are both lies and contain malicious and anti-national objectives." He added: "Media must be vigilant and cautious about publishing such suspicious news and should not, God forbid, become a platform and megaphone for the internal and external enemies of the nation." In this context, Alireza Moazeni, Secretary of the Government Information Council, also denied the rumors of Iran's exit from the JCPOA and Zarif's resignation a few hours earlier in a tweet. Moazeni wrote: "A suspicious current has been promoting the rumor of Iran's exit from the JCPOA and Zarif's resignation for two days, especially during his fruitful trip to India." He emphasized: "Accompanying such news is exactly playing into Donald Trump's hands, whose primary goal with the sanctions is not only to challenge the livelihood and economy of the country but also to undermine hope for the future and the peace of the people." On Wednesday night, especially on Twitter, there were discussions about Iran's exit from the JCPOA and Zarif's resignation. Among them, Hamid Rasai, a principlist representative of the ninth parliament, linked the topic of Zarif's resignation to statements made by Hassan Rouhani, who, in meetings responding to some criticisms regarding the "failure of the JCPOA" and the "imposition of FATF", declared the Foreign Ministry's expert team as "culpable". In another tweet, Rasai wrote: "The only impactful shock is the acceptance of Zarif's resignation." He wrote this in response to a tweet by Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, special assistant to Ali Larijani and former Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, who called for a shock to Europe. On Tuesday, it was announced that the European Union would impose sanctions against Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. This sanction is said to be due to "planning assassinations on European soil" and under these new sanctions, the assets of one of the units of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and two individuals, including an Iranian diplomat, will be frozen by the European Union. The U.S. Secretary of State also considered this action as the first EU sanctions against the Iranian government since the signing of the JCPOA.