Two Ministers in Rouhani’s Cabinet Resign, Third Is on the Way?

(Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet. Source: Mahmood Hosseini/Tasnim)

Simultaneous resignations rocked the Iranian media yesterday evening.

After a week of strong rumors, Minister of Culture Ali Jannati officially resigned from his post in the government (read more about this here). In his three years as minister of culture, Jannati was a favorite punchbag of Iran’s conservatives and hardliners, who, similar to the presidential years of Reformist President Mohammad Khatami, had turned culture into the main battleground against the president.

Minister of Youth and Sports Mahmoud Gourdarzi also resigned last evening. Goudarzi, who became minister after three other candidates of Rouhani for the portfolio were rejected by the Principlist-dominated Ninth Parliament (Feb 2012-Feb 2016), was a candidate of dismissal from the early months in the post, hardly popular either among the powerful sports media or the athletic community.

“Goudarzi lacked administrative credentials” says Amir-Hossein Nasseri, sports journalist in Tehran. “He had spent most of his career in the academia.” Nasseri points to differences between the minister of sports and the president, including over national football team’s popular coach, the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz. While Rouhani is a personal fan of the former Real Madrid coach, Goudarzi had criticized the plain-spoken coach of Team Melli more than once.

Initial news yesterday claimed that Ali-Asghar Fani, Minister of Education, had also resigned. The rumor was denied a few hours later. Despite being a veteran administrative in MoE, Fani did not deliver the promises expected. A motion for his impeachment was submitted to Majles’ presidency board on Tuesday by forty-five legislators, a few hours before the rumors of his resignation surfaced.

With a more compliant parliament formed since May 2016, Rouhani may want to finally introduce his favorite candidates for some ministries, though less than a year is left to Rouhani’s first term as president, and one cannot say with certainty if a second term for him is yet guaranteed.

Not everyone is fond of the resignations however, despite the fact that the three ministers were a favorite subject of criticism since their first days in the office.

“The government is not attending people’s message” says a former senior official to Iranian Diplomacy. “Culture is not people’s main concern, economy is.”