Parisa Hatami

As Saturday drew to its close, Fars news agency announced the resignation of Mahmoud ‎Farshidi as the Minister of Education. The news literally follows the widespread rumors ‎that the Minister of Labor, Jahromi, is resigning as well. This rumor was strengthened by ‎the publication of Jahromi’s complaining letter even though President Ahmadinejad ‎personally denied the rumors.‎

On Farshidi’s resignation, the news website Alef wrote that the minister resigned at the ‎request of Hashemi Samareh, the senior advisor to the President. This latest resignation ‎follows the same pattern that earlier 7 resignations within the administration had taken: ‎they wer all announced unexpectedly. It should be noted that earlier in May, President ‎Ahmadinejad had personally defended the record and performance of Minister Farshidi ‎while addressing Majlis deputies who had criticized the Ministry’s performance. ‎

According to Fars, Alireza Ali Ahmadi, the current president of Payame Noor University ‎may succeed Farshidi. Ahmadi had been once recommended as the Minister of ‎Cooperatives in the early days of the current administration, but failed to get the ‎necessary votes in the Majlis. It is ironic that when Majlis deputies publicly declared their ‎displeasure with Farshidi’s work, the government rejected their criticism.‎

The latest casualty in Ahmadinejad’s cabinet comes after the assurances that were given ‎by Saeedloo, the President’s Executive deputy last summer after the resignations by the ‎Minister of Oil and the Minister of Industries, that no other resignations would be ‎forthcoming. But he had made similar comments before the resignation of those two very ‎ministers as well.‎

President Ahmadinejad himself too had said earlier that unless unusual circumstances ‎came up, there should be no changes at the ministerial level and that nothing would ‎follow up for another year. The recent resignation, and the rumors, have created an ‎expectation on behalf of the public for the government to provide the justifications for the ‎change. And as with the earlier resignations, nothing more than the term “resignation” ‎has been put forward by government spokesmen and so it is not clear whether the ‎departing senior officials acted because of serious differences with the President or his ‎inner circle of aides. In asserting that Rashidi resigned at the request of Hashemi ‎Samareh, Alef website also wrote of other cabinet changes that are forthcoming.‎