Hemmati was removed from office after 182 out of 273 lawmakers voted against him.
Iran’s economy minister has been impeached after the parliament voted to dismiss him from office amid rising inflation and a falling currency.
Abdolnaser Hemmati was removed from office after 182 out of 273 lawmakers voted against him on Sunday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, parliament speaker, announced on Sunday, just six months after 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 584,000 to the dollar.
Recently, it dropped even further, with exchange shops in Tehran trading 930,000 rials for a dollar. The rial’s devaluation has led to widespread public discontent due to rising costs of living and heightened inflation.
President Pezeshkian, who was present during the session on Sunday, defended Hemmati, a former central bank governor, telling lawmakers that “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,” he added.
During the impeachment proceedings, Mohammad Qasim Osmani, a lawmaker supporting Hemmati, argued that rising inflation and exchange rates were not the fault of the current government or parliament.
He pointed to the budget deficit left by the previous administration, which he said contributed to the economic instability.
Hemmati acknowledged the tough economic climate during his five months in office, including a 10 percent reduction in inflation.
However, he admitted that inflation remained high, standing at 35 percent. He told lawmakers that his team was working hard to address the issue, but warned that the process would take time.
The vote against Hemmati also marks the first time conservative MPs have moved against the centrist Pezeshkian, looking to challenge and influence his government’s policies.
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.
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 country.