Foreign Ministry: Purported Zarif Resignation Letter Fake

In comments on Tuesday evening, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the ministry would not confirm the authenticity of a letter alleged to be the letter of resignation of Zarif.

“The published text is unfortunately manipulated and incomplete,” the spokesperson said.

On Monday night, Zarif announced his resignation from the cabinet in a post on his Instagram account.

“Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologize for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy,” Zarif wrote on his Instagram page.

On Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi said Zarif’s resignation has not been offered in coordination with President Hassan Rouhani.

The Iranian president's chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, also rejected media reports that the president has accepted Zarif’s resignation.

“The reports that the president has accepted Dr. Zarif’s resignation are strongly rejected,” Vaezi said in a post on his Twitter account.

Chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahat Pishe has also told Tasnim, “We are still unaware whether or not the president has accepted Mr. Zarif’s resignation.”

More than 150 Iranian lawmakers have asked Rouhani to turn down the foreign minister’s resignation.

In a letter on Tuesday, the parliamentarians have asked the president to encourage Zarif to remain in his post.

Born in 1960, Zarif lived in the United States from the age of 17 as a student in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007.

He was appointed minister of foreign affairs in August 2013 after Rouhani won the presidency.