Iran’s economy minister impeached as inflation rises, currency falls

Al Jazeera-March2nd2025

Iran’s economy minister has been impeached after parliament voted to dismiss him amid rising inflation and a falling currency.

Abdolnaser Hemmati was removed from office after 182 of 273 lawmakers voted against him, conservative parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced on Sunday, just six months after moderate President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government took office.

In 2015, the Iranian rial was worth 32,000 to the United States dollar, but by the time Pezeshkian took office in July, it had plummeted to about 600,000 to the dollar on the open market.

With regional tensions escalating recently, it dropped even further, trading hands in Tehran’s exchange shops and on its streets for about 950,000 rials to the dollar. The rial’s devaluation has led to widespread public discontent due to the rising cost of living and heightened inflation as the Nowruz New Year approaches this month.

Pezeshkian, who was present during the session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly 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 take a war formation.”