Irans FM woordvoerder ontslag te midden van presidentieel bod

The Associated Press, Tehran, Iran | World | Sun, may 12 2013, 7: 18 PM

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman stepped down after joining the race for next month's presidential elections.

A report by the semi official Mehr news agency says that Ramin Mehmanparast resigned from the post. It gave no reason, but the report late Saturday came several hours after the deadline to register for the June 14 elections to succeed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mehr says mehmanparast will be replaced by Abbas Araghchi, a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team. Araghchi further his current job as Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of Asia and Oceania.

The 50-year-old, British educated Araghchi served as the Iranian Ambassador in Japan in 2008-11.