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Iran denies senior IRGC official steps down from Gov post |
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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
Iran Focus
 Tehran, Iran, Dec. 06 – Iran’s state-run press denied on Thursday reports that a senior Revolutionary Guards commander staunchly allied to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had stepped down from the influential post of Deputy Interior Minister.
The news agency Mehr had reported earlier today that Brigadier General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr had resigned from his position in the Interior Ministry.
Zolqadr, who was once the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is currently Iran's Deputy Interior Minister with overall responsibility for internal security.
The United Nations Security Council has added his name to a list of senior IRGC commanders who are banned from travelled abroad because of their role in the country’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
Mehr said that Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi had accepted Zolqadr’s resignation. The report did not state the reason for his departure.
The news agency Fars, which is operated by the Office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, quickly moved to deny the report.
It quoted an “informed source” as saying that Zolqadr had not shown up for work over the past 72 hours but continued to remain as the ministry’s number-two man.
Zolqadr is a protégé and trusted confidant of Supreme Leader Khamenei and has had a key role in the country’s security apparatus for years.
Since Ahmadinejad became President, hundreds of senior officers of the IRGC have been seconded to government ministries and state institutions to “prop up” the country’s civil administration as the Islamic Republic continues to defy the international community over its nuclear program. |
