Sawt Falasteen - Iran lawmakers sack minister over economic woes

Economy and Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati lost a vote of confidence, with 182 of 273 parliamentarians present backing his removal.

On the black market on Sunday, the Iranian rial was trading at more than 920,000 to the US dollar, compared with less than 600,000 in mid-2024.

Earlier, President Masoud Pezeshkian defended Hemmati, a former central bank governor, telling lawmakers: "We are in a full-scale (economic) war with the enemy... we must take a war formation".

"The economic problems of today's society are not related to one person and we cannot blame it all on one person."

Lawmakers took turns angrily censuring Hemmati, blaming him for Iran's economic woes.

"People cannot tolerate the new wave of inflation; the rise in the price of foreign currency and other goods must be controlled," said one parliamentarian, Ruhollah Motefakker-Azad.

"People cannot afford to buy medicine and medical equipment," said another, Fatemeh Mohammadbeigi.

Pezeshkian took office in July with the ambition of reviving the economy and ending some Western-imposed sanctions.

But the depreciation of the rial has only intensified, especially since the fall in December of Iran ally Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

The day before his government was toppled in Damascus, the US dollar was trading for around 717,000 rials on Iran's black market.

"The rate of the foreign exchange is not real; the price is due to inflationary expectations," Hemmati said in his defence.

- 'Chronic inflation' -

"The most important problem of the country's economy is inflation, and that is chronic inflation, which has plagued our economy for years," the economy minister added.

Decades of US-led sanctions have battered Iran's economy, with double-digit inflation causing an increase in consumer prices since Washington pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in 2018.

The deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, provided for an easing of sanctions and the return of Western investment to Iran in return for increased limits on the country's nuclear activities.

US President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House in January, has revived his policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran, further tightening restrictions on the Islamic republic.

The Iranian economy has since 2018 been under pressure from high inflation, serious unemployment and the depreciation of its currency, which weighs heavily on everyday Iranians.

In that year, then Economy Minister Masoud Karbasian lost a vote of confidence during an impeachment session over the dire economic conditions.

Since 2019, inflation in Iran has been above 30 percent annually, according to figures from the World Bank.

In 2023, it reached a whopping 44 percent, according to the Washington-based institution's last report.

According to the Iranian constitution, a dismissal of the minister would be effective immediately, with a caretaker appointed until the government chooses a replacement.

In April 2023, MPs voted to dismiss then-minister of industry Reza Fatemi Amin due to a surge in prices linked to international sanctions.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST