Wednesday
Sep082010
UPDATED Iran Exclusive: Foreign Ministry Denies EA Story of Attempted Mottaki Resignation
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:21 
UPDATE 1410 GMT: President Ahmadinejad has said, "Mr. Mottaki will continue his work…and he attended the cabinet meeting today."UPDATE 8 September: Has the Iranian Foreign Ministry become a dedicated EA reader?
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has told Islamic Republic News Agency that rumours of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki's resignation are "hollow and baseless": "Certain news sources which were mainly working to satisfy the whims of the enemies of regional countries are only focusing on ways of sowing discord among Islamic states with an objective of weakening them in face of the threats being posed by the Zionist regime."
Mehmanparast said these sources "were dreaming of creating differences among the officials and authorities in Iran" but advised them to stop this "immoral behaviour".
UPDATE 2015 GMT: More criticism from Mottaki, this time of Ahmadinejad's special envoy for Asia, Hamid Baghaei, who is also the head of the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization.
The Foreign Minister said that it was not clear, based on authority and position, how Baghaei came to make "these inappropriate remarks", presumably a reference to the controversial intervention over Turkey's "genocide" of Armenians.
Mottaki asked the Iranian officials, especially in Government, not to increase the price that Iran has to pay internationally through inappropriate and naïve remarks and speeches.
EA can report, from reliable sources, that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki tried to resign last month over President Ahmadinejad's appointment of four special envoys, including his Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, for international affairs.
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Mottaki offered his resignation in a private letter, but the Supreme Leader intervened by sending a member of his office to talk with the Foreign Minister. Mottaki set out his complaint with the question, "What is my role?", given the apparent takeover of Iran's diplomacy by the Presidency.
The Foreign Minister also noted that the initiative had already caused one embarrassment for Tehran, when Hamid Baghaei, the special envoy for Asia, spoke about the "genocide" of Armenians by Turkey. Mottaki, who had to apologise to his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, said, "We have to answer for these mistakes, and we have to repair them."
Through his office, Ayatollah Khamenei assured Mottaki that he would take action. Days later, he slapped down the President, privately telling him that his action was counter-productive because it was not an organised plan and publicly --- after a meeting with Ahmadinejad and the Cabinet --- criticising "parallel action" in Government.
With Khamenei intervening, Mottaki not only withdrew his resignation but publicly maintained support for Ahmadinejad and the special envoys, fending off questions in Parliament.
(It should be noted, however, that despite the Supreme Leader's apparent rebuke, the President has not pulled back the appointment of the special envoys. This raised questions as to whether Ahmadinejad has indeed been curbed or has merely accepted a temporary public criticism while maintaining his line.)
Today there are further developments pointing to the rift between President and Foreign Minister. Mottaki has said that foreign policy is not a place for crude remarks and that this rule applies to prominent members of the Government. The Foreign Minister also referred to Khamenei's criticism of "parallel action".
Later "an informed official at the Foreign Ministry" said Mottaki's remarks on Israel-Palestine negotiations had been distorted by some Iranian media. It was essential, the official said, that Iran's foreign policy not be compromised by careless mistakes in information.
The official's words were in reference to yesterday's bitter exchange between Tehran and the Palestinian Authority, following President Ahmadinejad's denunciation of the Israel-Palestine talks in his Qods Day speech. The implication was that Mottaki did not agree with the public criticism of Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.
Tabnak has a lengthy article denouncing the special envoys while noting that the possibility of new Presidential representatives for Africa and Latin America has been raised.
In contrast, the Islamic Republic News Agency features the praise of some MPs for Ahmadinejad's personal diplomacy on his visit this week to Qatar.
Reader Comments (4)
Thank you, Scott, for this interesting piece of news.
Imho it proves that the SL has largely lost control over his beloved "president", who continues to consolidate his power bases on all levels and in all political realms. This lost of control already became apparent after the failed mediation between government and Majlis, which will be AN's next field to conquer.
Rejecting necessary legal improvements to his 5th Budget Plan by the parliament and threatening it with its withdrawal (after 8 months of joint negotiations on the issue) will further weaken Majlis and slowly reduce it to an administration heeler. Nevertheless the parliament will be retained as a necessary "democratic" facade, just like the Chinese politburo.
Apparently the IR is heading for a dual political system, headed by AN's and the SL's pressure groups, but certainly it will take some time until they get there.
Arshama
[...] Außenminister Mottaki wollte schon vor einem Monat zurücktreten [...]
In line with what Arshama wrote above, I would strongly recommend that anyone who has not yet read Omid Memarian's analysis of where current domestic struggle is heading, do so.
Iran: a political calculus
http://www.opendemocracy.net/omid-memarian/iran-political-calculus
Particularly relevant is the section: 'The domestic struggle'
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