MP Ali Motahari accused the Guardian Council of threatening the members of parliament with disqualification so that they won’t impeach the cabinet members. Motahari said on Thursday: “Unfortunately the members of parliament are not independent, free, and comfortable in making decisions.”

Motahari added that the purpose of parliament is to avoid tyranny and dictatorship, and a handful of members of parliament who decide to impeach a minister are heavily pressured.

“During one of the recent impeachments, the Friday-Prayer Imam of a city intervened and told the MP not to go through with it. The Guardian Council even called the MP and asked him to take back his signature and threatened him that if he doesn’t, they will disqualify him in the next election,” Motahari continued.

In response to Motahari’s comments, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council tweeted: “The claim of threats made by the Guardian council against members of parliament is clearly a lie.”

He added: “The Guardian Council will pursue this matter legally.”

After the country-wide protests in Iran, there were reports that some MPs had asked for Rouhani and some of his ministers to resign.

Mohsen Hashemi, the chairman of the Tehran city council referred to those seeking impeachment as “radicals” and said the leader of the Islamic Republic is against them. He added that the supporters of impeachment backed out after Khamenei expressed his opposition to the idea.