ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran's parliament on Sunday dismissed Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati after a vote of no confidence for failure to stabilize markets and curb inflation, according to state media.
The parliament convened on Sunday to discuss Hemmati’s impeachment over his alleged financial failure. The majority of lawmakers voted in favor of sacking the minister.
The Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also attended the meeting to defend his minister as Hemmati was being blamed for the economic challenges mounting in the country.
"A decision was made at a meeting of the heads of state, but we could not implement it. Another group had to make the decision before we could announce it. After all, can a single person alone decide on economic conditions and implement them, while we place all the blame on him and claim that if he leaves, the problems will be resolved?" Pezeshkian was quoted by the state-owned IRNA as telling the legislature.
Opinions in parliament, however, were divided, but the majority blamed Hemmati for the national currency's depreciation and economic challenges.
Hemmati, in his defence, stated that In 2018 “the country's economic conditions were much more difficult than they are now, but we stood our ground and withstood the maximum pressure, and now we will win the economic war.”
When President Masoud Pezeshkian came into office last summer, the Iranian rial was trading at approximately 580,000 per US dollar. It has now lost nearly half its value.
On Thursday, the US imposed a second round of sanctions since President Donald Trump restorated his maximum pressure policy against Iran in early February, arguing that Tehran is “too close” to obtaining nuclear weapons.
Since the beginning of Pezeshkian's presidency, his cabinet has faced heavy criticism, primarily from conservatives who oppose his cabinet’s agenda.
In late January, Vice President Javad Zarif faced criticism at home after he told an American journalist in Switzerland that enforcing a new hijab law was not part of Pezeshkian’s agenda. In December, the parliament’s security committee published a letter calling for his resignation because he has family members with American citizenship.
A considerable portion of Iran's population is struggling to meet their basic needs and poverty rates are high as Tehran contends with both internal and external challenges, the head of the Institute of Labor and Social Security, Ebrahim Sadeghifar, said in early January.
Updated at 2:38 pm on March 2, 2025.
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