Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sent a letter to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s office submitting his resignation, London-based anti-regime outlet Iran International reported on Sunday.
In the letter sent on Sunday, Pezeshkian stressed that the president and the government have effectively been excluded from major and vital decision-making processes in the country, and that the vacuum created by this situation has enabled hardline factions within the IRGC to take control of affairs, the source said.
Pezeshkian added that under such circumstances he is unable to run the government and carry out his legal responsibilities, and for that reason has requested to step down immediately.
It is not yet clear whether Mojtaba Khamenei will accept the president’s resignation, but the contents of the letter point to a deep and unprecedented rift at the highest levels of power.
This comes after months of tensions between the government and the Islamic Republic’s military-security institutions. Iran International previously reported that the IRGC had gradually restricted many presidential powers and effectively taken control of key parts of the government.
An anonymous official told Iran International that the letter had called out the fact that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had effectively taken over large portions of the government, and that the president and other high-ranking officials had been cut out of vital decision-making.
Pezeshkian, the letter emphasized, was unable to run the government or fulfill his responsibilities under the circumstances, and as such, requested to resign.
Anonymous sources told Iran International that the primary source of the differences between Pezeshkian and the head of the IRGC, who is believed to currently hold the lion’s share of power in the regime, was “the way the war was managed and its destructive consequences on the people’s livelihoods and the country’s economy.”
Last week, US officials revealed to CBS that Khamenei is hidden in a secret location with little access to the outside world, only reachable through a “labyrinth” of couriers.
Even the highest officials in the Iranian government are unaware of his location and are not able to directly contact him, the officials said.
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