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Pezeshkian denies resignation rumors; says he will stand firm
Leader’s office rejects ‘false’ remarks attributed to Ayatollah Khamenei
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he would not resign and would stand firm, rejecting recent speculation about his future and accusing unnamed figures of trying to drive a wedge between the country's leadership.
In a televised interview with the public scheduled to air on Tuesday evening, Pezeshkian pushed back against rumors that he planned to step down from the presidency.
"If I wanted to resign, I would officially announce that I had resigned. I will not resign. I will stand firm," he added.
Pezeshkian said those spreading the claims were seeking to create divisions, adding that "the Leader says one thing and they say something else."
Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications and information at Pezeshkian’s office, in a post on X also dismissed the rumors as “baseless and an outright lie.”
The comments came after Mohammad-Baqer Kharrazi, a cleric whose sister is married to the Leader’s brother, claimed that Pezeshkian had threatened to resign “28 times” but stopped after being warned that his next resignation would be accepted by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.
Public Relations Office of the Leader reacted to the rumors on Tuesday, saying that remarks attributed to the Leader circulating on social media in recent days were false and accused those spreading them of fueling public division.
The statement added that Ayatollah Khamenei had repeatedly stressed the need to preserve national unity and respect officials committed to serving the Islamic Republic, particularly the government.
It said content that runs counter to the Leader’s recommendations serves the objectives of ill-wishers of the Iranian nation.
The statement rejected as "false and contrary to reality" a social media post in which an individual makes a claim about the reaction of the Leader to a letter of president Pezeshkian. The Leader’s office underlined that the only official sources for Leader’s remarks are his websites, saying that any material published outside of the websites "lacks authenticity and validity".