Rouhani sacking advisor to please Iran’s supreme leader

Noura Bendari

Hesamodin Ashna, an advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, reacted to recently leaked remarks by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corpse by calling on God to harm those who plan to harm him.

Zarif’s remarks angered Iran’s mullahs, but gave insights into who has the upper hand in running Iranian affairs and controlling decision-making in it.

He said the late commander of Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, used to manipulate some foreign policy files, thus marginalizing him.

Iranian media has accused Ashna of leaking the remarks made by the Iranian foreign minister.

Zarif made these remarks as part of a series of interviews conducted by the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies which is supervised by Ashna himself, the media said.

Soon after the leaks were made, President Rouhani sacked Ashna against the background of the aforementioned accusations. The official spokesperson of the Iranian presidency said later that Zarif’s remarks were leaked with ill intentions in mind.

Nevertheless, President Rouhani did not outline the reasons behind sacking Ashna. However, some people believe the move was made in Rouhani’s attempts to please Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The leaks were made as Iran builds up for new presidential elections in June.

The presidential spokesman said Zarif was interviewed by the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies which was conducting a series of interviews aiming at documenting Rouhani’s presidency.

He added that excerpts of the interview were supposed to be aired for the general public.