Reformists Spark Spat With Call on Rouhani to Quit

Date: 15 December 2019 - 21:50

News ID: ۷۳۹۲۸

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- The call by far-left reformists for President Hassan Rouhani to resign has triggered warnings that the proponents of the resignation are pushing for a situation similar to what is happening in Iraq and Lebanon.
Violent protests in Iraq for months forced the government of prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to step down, but there is no let-up in the unrest which has been marked by abductions and assassinations and a brutal lynching of a teenager in Baghdad by a group of protesters.
Protests in Lebanon also forced Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to step down, but a continuing political stalemate has aggravated the situation.
In Iran, radical reformist politician Abbas Abdi recently called on Rouhi to resign, claiming that his administration was unable to function under what he alleged "this level of tension”.
"The Rouhani resignation scheme is a component of the shock doctrine and the strategy of eliminating the administration, exactly like the resignation of the prime ministers of Iraq and Lebanon which led to the intensification of violence and chaos in their countries,” Muhammad Abdollahi, a journalist, wrote on Afkar News website on Sunday.
Abdollahi said radical reformists "have orders for the same multi-stage project as their Iraqi and Lebanese comrades” and similarly want to pave the way for the emergence of "governments obedient to the West” through creating economic problems, street protests, chaos and political destabilization.
Nameh News said the reason for the call by radical reformists on Rouhani to quit is his "continuous failure in the past three years” and an attempt by his former supporters to save face by shifting the blame to other political entities.
Abdi has proposed that the parliament holds a vote of confidence on the current cabinet or an early presidential election is held simultaneously with parliamentary elections in May or even earlier in March.