Iran: confusion surrounding a possible resignation of President Massoud Pezeshkian

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian submitted a resignation letter to the office of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in which he denounced the sidelining of the president and the government from key decision-making processes in favor of a hardline faction within the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to the Persian-language media Iran International, based in London, citing an anonymous official. The Iranian presidency formally denied this information in the following hours, labeling it a misinformation operation linked to Mossad.

According to Iran International, Pezeshkian’s letter stated that “the president and the government have been excluded from key national decision-making processes” and that a “hardline group within the IRGC has filled the power vacuum.” Pezeshkian wrote in the letter, according to this source: “Under these conditions, I cannot lead the government nor fulfill my legal responsibilities – I am therefore resigning immediately.” Iran International specified that it had not been able to confirm whether Mojtaba Khamenei accepted the resignation.

The official response came quickly. Mehdi Tabatabaei, the spokesperson within the presidential office, posted on X: “President Pezeshkian will not give up serving the people, just as the Iranian nation will not deviate from the path of solidarity and resistance.” The semi-official Tasnim agency, citing a government official, stated that “the president has not resigned and was fully fulfilling his duties that day, with his schedule continuing normally.” The presidency labeled the publication by Iran International as “a Mossad-related fabrication.”

A context of internal tension documented since February 28

The situation described in the alleged letter – marginalization of the civilian government by the IRGC – is not without factual precedent. Since the death of Ali Khamenei during the joint Israeli-American airstrikes on February 28, 2026, Pezeshkian had been part of an interim leadership triumvirate tasked with ensuring the transition until Mojtaba Khamenei’s election as Supreme Leader on March 8. In this eight-day institutional vacuum, the IRGC had strengthened its operational presence and control over military and security matters. Pezeshkian, a reformist elected in July 2024 on a platform of openness to the West, represented the most moderate line of a system confronted since February 28 with an open war against Israel and the United States.

Iran International, a Persian-language media outlet founded in 2017 in London with documented links to opposition circles to the Islamic Republic, is regularly presented by Tehran as a tool of hostile propaganda. This characterization is contested by the media itself, which presents itself as an independent news outlet. Its reports on internal Iranian crises have sometimes been confirmed retrospectively, but they have also been denied without visible consequences, which calls for cautious reading.