The Iranian economy minister was bounced each after parliament voted to dismiss him from his position amid rising and falling inflation.
Abdolnasser Hemmati took office after 182 of the 273 lawmakers voted against him, Chairman Mahammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced on Sunday, just six months after President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government took office.
In 2015, the Iranian rial was worth 32,000 in the US dollar, but by the time Pezeshkian took office in July it had plummeted to $584,000.
Recently, it has fallen even further, with Tehran exchange shops trading 940,000 rials trading over a dollar. The devaluation of RIAL has resulted in widespread public dissatisfaction due to rising costs of living and increased inflation.
Attended during Sunday’s session, President Pezeschkian defended former central bank governor and presidential candidate Henmati, who told lawmakers, “We’re on full scale.” [economic] War with the enemy…we must form a war.”
“The economic issues in society today have nothing to do with one person and we cannot blame it all on one person,” he added.
During the ammo each procedure, Mohammad Qasim Osmani, a supporter of Hemati, argued that inflation and rising exchange rates were not the fault of the current government or Congress.
He pointed out the fiscal deficit left behind by the control of hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, and said it contributed to economic instability.
The first big blow to the Pezeschkian government
Hardline lawmakers who have attacked Pezeshkian’s team since the government began claimed that Henmati could contribute to Iran’s economic instability and could be “dangerous” to the country.
Longtime hardline lawmaker Hosseinali Hajidaligani accused the government of intentionally underestimating its domestic currency to make the cost of damaging the economy and filling government funding with a short-term landfall covering fiscal obstacles.
Hemmati acknowledged the harsh economic situation during his five months in office, but noted that inflation had fallen by 10%. He admitted that inflation remains high and stands at 35%. He told lawmakers that his team is working hard to deal with the issue, but warned that the process would take time.
Hemati stressed that Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with a world power that was unilaterally abandoned by US President Donald Trump in 2018 is currently at a critical time. The Western Party of Trade needs to activate a “snapback” mechanism that can revive all UN sanctions against Iran.
However, his petition for unity was ignored, and the vote for Henmati managed to knock out the senior officials of the centralist Pezeschkian administration. However, hemati is unlikely to be cut off from the government as the government has been appointed special adviser on multiple occasions before.
Aiming to challenge and influence government policies, some lawmakers continue their efforts to expel former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif from his position as strategic adviser to the president.
It rampified local mismanagement and corruption combined with decades of US-led sanctions, struck Iran’s economy. With the spread of Israel’s war with Gaza and the blows addressed by the Iran-led axis of resistance in recent months, public concern over further economic instability has only increased.
Returning to the White House in January, Trump reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy on Iran, further tightening the country’s restrictions. US and Israeli officials regularly threaten to bomb Iran and its nuclear and energy facilities rather than Tehran’s advanced nuclear program.
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