Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is reportedly not accepting Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s Feb. 25 resignation.
The Times of Israel reports that both Bahram Qasseini, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, and Mahmoud Vaezi, Rouhani’s chief of staff, said that Zarif’s resignation has not been accepted.
“Dr. Rouhani is of the opinion that the Islamic Republic of Iran has just one foreign policy and one foreign minister,” Vaezi tweeted.
Additionally, more than 150 members of the Iranian parliament signed a petition calling for Zarif to rescind his resignation.
Zarif announced his resignation on Instagram shortly after he was left out of a Feb. 25 meeting between Rouhani, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Zarif told the foreign ministry staff on Feb. 26 he resigned because he hoped doing so would result in the ministry regaining “its proper statutory role in the conduct of foreign affairs.”
Upon hearing of Zarif’s resignation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “good riddance.”
