Iran's President Hassan Rouhani slammed in a public speech once again the ministers of his government over the internal situation in Iran, a week after demanding senior officials to end their silence.
Rouhani said that, in his opinion, the ministers are divided into two parties. The first has been talking since March 21 about the low budget, cheap oil prices and its low sale, the bad situation in addition to economic drought in the country, stressing that he has tried to ignore these comments. The other party, however, said Rouhani, has been talking with optimism about the problems, providing proposals with positive look for the future and stressing that the country should work harder to solve the issues, according to IRNA.
This is the second time that the President criticizes his ministers in a public speech. Last week, Rouhani called on officials in his government, including the ministers, to put an end to the silence and resist those who exert pressure on the government.
He said he was surprised from the silence of the officials and asked them to step down if they did not have the courage to talk about the problems.
His criticism of the cabinet reshuffle comes out publicly, and every Wednesday he chairs the ministerial meeting in the Iranian government.
Rouhani was addressing a labor conference in Tehran on Sunday on the occasion of the upcoming International Labor’s Day.
Without referring to the labor protests witnessed by the country in 2017, the Iranian President boasted an increase in workers' salaries and promised to improve the situation of wider segments of the Iranian society.
Despite that, Rouhani’s speech sent clear signals that labor protests could turn into more popular protests in the country.
“What is the use of being sad about the future? Why should we be sad that the next year is going to be more difficult? We should always be hopeful about the future,” Rouhani said.
“A conspiracy of the enemies against the Iranian nation is causing disappointment in the future of the country,” he added.
“We should make Iran more prosperous through helping each other and setting hopes on the future,” he stressed.
The Iranian president indirectly played down the fears of large protest movements in Iran, when he responded to previous US calls made by new National Security Adviser John Bolton about overthrowing the regime in Iran.
“There is a foul-mouthed man in the US who always speaks ill of Iran, and last year he said that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not see the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, but today, we have entered the 40th anniversary of the revolution and we will celebrate the 41st anniversary of the victory of Islamic Revolution more gloriously than ever to disappoint enemies,” Rouhani stated.
