Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned President Masoud Pezeshkian that his next resignation would be accepted, a relative of Khamenei by marriage said in a video released Monday, prompting sharp denials and political backlash.

Axar.az reports, citing Iran International, that Mohammad-Bagher Kharrazi, a senior cleric whose sister is married to Khamenei’s brother, claimed Pezeshkian had threatened to resign “28 times” but stopped after being warned that his next resignation would be accepted.

“If he resigns one more time, I will approve it. I will write ‘approved’ underneath it, and that will be the end of it,” Kharrazi quoted Khamenei as saying.

“Pezeshkian no longer dares,” he said. “They all backed down.”

However, Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications and information at Pezeshkian’s office, dismissed Kharrazi’s resignation allegation as “baseless and an outright lie.”

“A sinister alliance of deceitful agitators and proponents of extremism and incompetence has targeted sacred unity and national cohesion,” Tabatabaei wrote on X.

“Two years after their defeat at the ballot box, they are still seeking revenge against the will of the people,” he added. “They have become puppets of Iran’s enemies. It is deplorable.”