TEHRAN, Iran – State radio says parliament has voted in principle to support a bill to take away responsibility for Iran’s Tourism Department from the president’s office.
The Sunday report says lawmakers will discuss the bill’s details at a later, unspecified date.
If it becomes law, the Tourism Department will be placed under the Culture Ministry.
The move is apparently a reaction to recent remarks by the department’s head and vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, that Iranians were “friends of all people in the world — even Israelis.”
Mashai’s August remarks sparked calls for his dismissal, but Ahmadinejad appears to be standing by his vice president.
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- The move is apparently a reaction to recent remarks by the department’s head and vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, that Iranians were “friends of all people in the world — even Israelis.
- State radio says parliament has voted in principle to support a bill to take away responsibility for Iran’s Tourism Department from the president’s office.
- The Sunday report says lawmakers will discuss the bill’s details at a later, unspecified date.
