State news reports Iran’s education minister has resigned

TEHRAN, Iran – The state-run IRNA news agency is reporting that Iran’s minister of education has resigned to run for a seat in parliament in February 2020.

IRNA said Thursday that President Hassan Rouhani approved Mohammad Bathaei’s resignation.

Earlier, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Bathaei handed in his resignation to the president at a Cabinet meeting.

The resignation comes after Iranian teachers held several nationwide strikes over the last two years to protest low wages. Since April, some lawmakers had begun to talk about Bathaei’s impeachment.

Bathaei took office in August 2017 after the Iranian parliament voted him in as a minister during Rouhani’s second term.