In a continuation of the leaked Zarif files saga, a senior advisor to President Rouhani and the head of the Centre for Presidential Strategic Studies, Hesamuddin Ashna, has resigned after a number of media outlets identified him as the source of the leak. Ashna has denied he was responsible, and has since made cryptic comments referring to the 1972 comedy film Hakim Bashi, and vaguely adding that the authorities were following a line of inquiry other than him. A number of media outlets have speculated that the authorities were investigating 15-20 people regarding the theft and leaking of the audio.
