A member of the Presidium of the Iranian Shura Council, Mohammad Rashidi, confirmed on Tuesday that the request to interrogate the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araqchi, submitted by Representative Amir Hossein Thabeti, was officially registered in the parliament system, in a development that brings to the fore the differences within the Iranian political establishment regarding the management of the diplomatic file, especially the way Tehran deals with communications and negotiations with the United States.
Rashidi said, in a statement reported by the Tasnim Agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, that the request had already been registered in the Parliament system, but he clarified that it had not yet been referred to the Presidency of the Council, and therefore it had not yet become a measure on the Parliament’s agenda.
This development comes at a time when the Iranian political arena is witnessing an intense debate regarding the performance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the limits of movement granted to Araqchi in communications with the American side. This disagreement has emerged over the past weeks, especially after the criticism directed by a number of conservative representatives towards Araqchi’s meetings and communications with American officials or envoys.
Representative Ali Khudarian, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Parliament, accused Araghchi in previous statements of conducting direct contacts with the American side without authorization, considering that the Foreign Ministry’s justification that the American side insisted on communication was not convincing. He also said that deputies had already registered a request to question the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Iranian press coverage during the recent period reveals that the dispute is not related to Araqchi personally, as much as it revolves around the limits of the mandate granted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in managing communications with Washington, who has the decision to negotiate directly, and how mediators and indirect communications should be dealt with.
In one of the most prominent features of this dispute, conservative representatives criticized Araghchi’s meeting with the American envoy, Steve Witkoff, saying that the meeting exceeded the framework within which communications with Washington were supposed to be managed. Criticism has reached the point of demanding the use of Parliament's oversight tools. Including interrogation.
But on the other hand, voices have emerged within the Iranian political scene warning that turning the differences over the Foreign Ministry’s performance into questioning at this stage may weaken the Iranian negotiating position.
Mansour Haqiqatpour, a former conservative politician, said that the timing of Araqchi’s interrogation is inappropriate, given that the government in the current circumstances needs a foreign minister capable of continuing contacts and negotiations. Not to enter into an internal political battle over whether to remain in office.
Iranian media also previously quoted representatives opposed to the interrogation as saying that interrogating the Foreign Minister in light of war and regional tension may send negative messages, while one of the representatives described changing the Foreign Minister during this stage as an inappropriate step.
Araqchi represents one of the most prominent Iranian diplomatic figures in the file of relations with the West. Therefore; The criticism directed at him reflects, in part, a broader disagreement within the Iranian political establishment regarding how to manage the negotiating process with the United States.
One axis of criticism focuses on the communications that took place between Iranian and American officials directly or through intermediaries, and on whether these communications remained within the limits determined by the leadership and institutions concerned with national security, or whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs moved with a wider margin than what some representatives wanted.
On the other hand, supporters of Araghchi continuing in his position defend the necessity of maintaining an effective diplomatic channel, especially in light of the continuing regional contacts and mediations. From this perspective, interrogation is not only viewed as a monitoring tool over a minister's performance, but rather as a test of the balance between parliamentary oversight and the requirements of managing a highly sensitive diplomatic and security file.
According to a member of the Presidency, Muhammad Rashidi, the request to interrogate Araghchi has not yet been referred to the Presidency. As another member of the Presidium explained; He is Ali Reza Salimi. Merely registering the interrogation request does not automatically mean referring it to the Presidency or including it on the agenda of the plenary session.
This comes in conjunction with other parliamentary movements towards ministers in Masoud Pezeshkian’s government. Which adds an internal political dimension to the Araghchi case. In today's session, MP Maytham Dhahorian also raised the issue of the mechanism for dealing with requests to interrogate ministers, criticizing what he described as the "lack of clarity of procedures" in referring these requests to the parliamentary track.
Accordingly; The registration of a request to interrogate Araghchi represents a new political indication of the extent of objection within Parliament to the State Department’s management of the American file, but it is still at an early stage procedurally. The most significant step will be whether the request will be formally referred to the parliamentary process and then moved to a public session, or will it remain within the framework of political pressure and parliamentary oversight.
An Iranian official said on Tuesday that President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaqi Katabji, known for his close ties to the country's missile industries, for the position of defense minister.
Sasan Valizadeh, Advisor to the Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs, confirmed that Pezeshkian sent Akhlaqi Katabji’s nomination to the Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, based on “Article 133” of the Constitution, which requires ministers to obtain the confidence of Parliament, according to the Iranian “Mehr” Agency.
Representatives are expected to review Katabji's ethics program and policies before setting a date for a vote of confidence on him. However, it is customary in Iran for Parliament’s approval of candidates for sensitive security positions to be merely a routine procedure. The nomination and announcement of the name means that it has obtained the approval of the guide.
However, Iranian media say that Akhlaqi Katabji's nomination came amid questions about how the appointment received approval at the highest levels of the Iranian political system; Due to the continued absence of the guide from the public sphere.
Akhlaqi Katabji’s nomination to fill the position came after it had remained vacant since the killing of the previous minister, Aziz Nasir Zadeh. As a result of the American-Israeli attacks at the beginning of the last war, last February.
Majeed Ibn Al-Rida had been running the Ministry of Defense since March 2, when Pezeshkian appointed him as Chargé d'Affaires following the killing of Nasir Zadeh.
Akhlaqi Katabji is a veteran Defense Ministry official with close ties to Iran's missile and space industries. The UN Security Council designated him in 2007 as the head of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, an entity affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Defense and linked to the ballistic missile program.
The former Defense Minister, Hossein Dehghan, appointed Akhlaqi Katabji as head of the Aerospace Industries Organization in November 2014. The United States also imposed sanctions on him in 2020, designating him as director of the Defense Industries Organization, pointing to his activities related to conventional weapons.
Akhlaqi Katabji's name was put back on the UN sanctions list when previous sanctions were reimposed on Iran in September 2025.
His name was also mentioned in the European Union sanctions documents, which referred to him as an official in the “Iranian Defense Industries Organization” and the “Aerospace and Aerospace Industries Organization.”
The importance of Akhlaq Kitabji’s nomination stems from the vital role played by the Aerospace Industries Organization in the structure of the Ministry of Defense. Its activities are related to areas such as the missile industries, aviation and space industries, and some equipment and systems related to these fields.
On August 10, the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, appointed 6 senior military commanders to compensate people who were killed during the recent war, most notably Ali Abdullahi as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Kayumarth Heydari, the former commander of the Army’s Ground Forces, as his deputy, and Ahmed Vahidi as Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard, after promoting him to the rank of Major General.
However, a number of the most sensitive intelligence positions remain without permanent chiefs.
