TEHRAN - Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) news agency rebuffed on Friday reports that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has resigned.

Citing “informed sources”, the IRIB news agency said the news about the chief diplomat’s resignation on social media platforms was untrue.

On Friday, some news channels on the Telegram Messaging app, including a channel closely associated with the reformists, broke the news that Zarif has resigned. The news sparked a wave of speculation over the possible reasons behind the resignation, with some media outlets highlighting the foreign minister’s absence from the cabinet meetings over the past few weeks.

However, the IRIB alluded to Zarif’s recent public activities as a reason that Zarif is still the foreign minister of Iran. On Thursday, he held a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi during which the two foreign ministers discussed the latest bilateral and regional developments.

Zarif is also expected to meet with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who will be visiting Iran on Monday.

Zarif himself responded to speculations over his absence from the cabinet meetings, saying that he, along with his colleagues in the Foreign Ministry, was busy all the time confronting the efforts of  U.S. President Donald “Trump’s regime and the Zionists” to impose pressure on Iran.

“While the Trump regime and the Zionists have done their utmost to impose economic, political, and security pressures on the Islamic Republic of Iran, my colleagues in the Foreign Ministry and the missions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and I have dedicated our time around the clock to foil these pressures,” Zarif told reporters on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.

Last year, Zarif resigned from his post as foreign minister, but his resignation was rejected by President Rouhani. Since then, rumors have surfaced about Zarif’s resignation on many occasions, but all were rebuffed.

SKM/PA