( CNN ) -- A rumored rift between Iran 's two most powerful leaders surfaced Sunday when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei overruled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 's acceptance of the resignation of the country 's intelligence minister . The Fars semiofficial state news agency reported that Ahmadinejad had accepted the resignation of Heydar Moslehi as the intelligence minister , who oversees the crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran . A later Fars report said Moslehi was reinstated by Khamenei `` because the supreme leader opposed his removal from his post . '' `` Following the reports in news websites belonging to the government that said Moslehi 's resignation had been accepted by the president , he will remain in his post because the supreme leader , Ayatollah Khamenei , opposed the resignation , '' according to Fars . Under Iranian political tradition , the supreme leader appoints or approves the appointments of the ministers of intelligence , interior , defense and foreign affairs . The first indications of a rift between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad came in 2009 , when Khamenei forced the president to remove his first vice president , who also is the father of Ahmadinejad 's daughter-in-law . CNN 's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this story .
Ahmadinejad accepted the intelligence minister 's resignation . The Iranian president said he was not aware of any specific plot against him and that his government had been targeted by a "conspiracy" in recent days. It is the latest indication of a rift between the two .