TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was not informed about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Tehran last week and that was a reason he submitted his resignation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday.

“The Foreign Ministry did not have information at any level (about the trip) and this lack of information was maintained until the end of the trip,” Qassemi said, according to ISNA.

The resignation “was not a private and individual issue and the goal and intent of that was a positive effort to return the Foreign Ministry and the diplomatic system of the country to its main place,” he stated.

MH/PA