Iranian President Under Pressure to Relinquish Oil Ministry Role

摘要

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under mounting pressure to step down as caretaker oil minister, a position he assumed earlier this month after sacking oil supremo Massoud Mirkazemi, who had held the portfolio since 2009. According to the semiofficial Fars new agency, Iran's hard-line Guardian Council -a key decision-making body which is ultimately controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei -branded Ahmadinejad's move to take over the ministry as "illegal" and said it was in clear violation of the constitution. But Ahmadinejad, who is approaching the half-way point in his second and final four-year term as president, appears to be in no mood to back down.