In the first major setback for the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian parliament overwhelmingly voted yesterday to impeach Economy Minister Abdolnasser Hemmati.
The impeachment motion came after weeks of speculation, with 182 out of 273 lawmakers voting against the minister, 89 voting in his favour, with one abstention and one invalid vote.
President Pezeshkian, who was present during the session, addressed the parliament before the vote, urging lawmakers to support the minister to help navigate economic challenges.
In an impassioned speech, he acknowledged the hardships faced by the Iranian people, emphasising that “unity and solidarity” were the only ways to resolve the crisis.
He described the current economic turmoil as being “worse than the eight-year war with Iraq” in the 1980s, noting that the country is in a “full-scale [economic] war with the enemy.”
Pezeshkian assumed the presidency of Iran in July 2024 following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in northeastern Iran.
The reformist politician defeated his conservative rival on the promise of lifting sanctions through negotiations with the West and revitalising the struggling economy.
However, his administration’s efforts were derailed by the reelection of Donald Trump in the US, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposing talks with Trump.
Amid mounting economic woes in the country, inflation has surged in recent months, and the national currency, the rial, continues to plummet to historic lows.
Last month, for the first time ever, the rial surpassed 940,000 against the dollar, a steep decline from 600,000 in October last year and 40,000 in early 2018 before Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions.
Yesterday, the rial was trading at more than 920,000 to the dollar in the open market.
Hemmati, formerly Iran’s top banker and a presidential candidate, robustly defended his performance as the economy minister during the impeachment session, insisting that the Pezeshkian government has a clear blueprint to revive the country’s economy.
However, his arguments failed to sway lawmakers, who proceeded with his impeachment.
The impeachment vote was based on ten key issues, including the minister’s mismanagement of the foreign exchange and gold markets, improper allocation of foreign currency for essential goods and medicine, the depreciation of the national currency, and the reliance on exchange rates for essential goods prices, according to local media.
Lawmakers also cited Hemmati’s performance in areas such as stock market regulation, free trade zones, customs and banking to build a case against him.
With Hemmati’s ouster, the government must now nominate a new economy minister for parliament’s vote of confidence.