Iran’s economy minister has been impeached following a vote in parliament to remove him, amid soaring inflation and a depreciating currency.
Abdolnaser Hemmati was ousted after 182 out of 273 lawmakers voted against him, as announced by conservative parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday, just six months after President Masoud Pezeshkian’s moderate government took office.
In 2015, the Iranian rial was valued at 32,000 to the U.S. dollar, but by the time Pezeshkian assumed office in July, it had plummeted to approximately 600,000 to the dollar.
Recently, with rising regional tensions, the rial further deteriorated, trading for around 950,000 rials to the dollar in Tehran’s markets and on the streets.
This dramatic devaluation of the rial has sparked widespread public discontent due to escalating living costs and inflation, particularly as the Nowruz New Year approaches.
Pezeshkian, who was present during the parliamentary session on Sunday, defended Hemmati, a former central bank governor and presidential candidate.
He told lawmakers, “We are in a full-scale economic war with the enemy… We must adopt a war formation.” He stressed that the current economic issues could not be blamed on one individual alone.
During the impeachment process, Mohammad Qasim Osmani, a lawmaker who supported Hemmati, argued that the rising inflation and currency fluctuations were not solely the fault of the current government.
He pointed to the budget deficit inherited from former President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, which he claimed contributed to the economic instability.
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