Iranian hard-line member of parliament Javad Karimi Ghoddousi is one of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s staunch enemies. Ghoddousi has repeatedly brought up issues against the foreign minister, and he recently published Zarif’s confidential talks with parliament members in the media.

Now, Ghoddousi has claimed that Zarif has written a letter to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. In response to this claim, Iran’s Foreign Ministry released a statement Feb. 28: “The wrong, baseless and again new claim of Javad Karimi Ghoddousi that the foreign minister of our country has had correspondence with the US secretary of state is strongly rejected.”

Voicing “surprise” and “sorrow” over such “baseless” claims, the Foreign Ministry statement added, “Like before, such claims will have no special goal, and the wise and informed members of parliament and noble Iranian nation are well-aware of the outlines of the policy of the country in foreign policy domain, not intending to be influenced by such wrong insinuations.”

It is noteworthy that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Feb. 20 that Iran has no relations with the new administration in the United States.