Tehran rejects the resignation of Foreign Minister Zarif

Chief of Quds force says he is still responsible for Iranian diplomacy. President Rouhani did not accept his decision to leave office. Lack of invitation to meet with Assad and the growing dissatisfaction with Minister’s role in government.

Teheran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Mohammad Javad Zarif, who announced his resignation as Iranian foreign minister, is still responsible for the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic and has the full support of the supreme leader, the great ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was what a leading commander of the Revolutionary Guards said this morning, adding that President Hassan Rouhani did not accept the decision of the Iranian high-ranking diplomat.

"Zarif is still responsible for the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic, and has the full support of all top officials, especially the supreme leader," said Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds force, special unit of the Pasdaran. He did not add any particular information about the reasons for his resignation. Well-informed sources believe that the decisi0on is linked to the lack of an invitation to the meeting between Rouhani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on an official visit to Iran.

During the last trip of February 25, the Syrian leader saw President Rouhani and the great ayatollah Khamenei. Soleimani, present at both official meetings, said that the absence of Zarif was due to "bureaucratic errors". "There are signs - he added - that there was no intention to exclude Zarif [..] and I would like to underline that, as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he is chiefly responsible for the country's foreign policy" .

He is the great architect of the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA), which was latest cancelled by US President Trump who ordered the introduction of the harshest sanctions in history. 

Meanwhile, a presidential spokesman clarifies that Rouhani has not accepted the resignation of the head of foreign policy and reiterates his "satisfaction" with the work of Zarif. Yesterday a source close to the minister had leaked his dissatisfaction at having been sidelined in recent times. "I hope that my resignation - said Zarif - will serve as a stimulus for the Foreign Ministry, so that it regains its role as the guide" of international relations.

• iran
• resignation
• zarif