Sun Mar 02 18:19:50 UTC 2025: ## Iranian Parliament Ousts Finance Minister Amidst Soaring Inflation

**Tehran, March 2, 2025** – Iran’s parliament voted to remove Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati on Sunday, citing his failure to curb spiraling inflation and the plummeting value of the Iranian rial. 182 out of 273 present parliamentarians supported the impeachment.

The rial’s value has fallen dramatically, trading at over 920,000 to the US dollar on the black market, compared to less than 600,000 in mid-2024. This sharp devaluation has fueled public anger and contributed to the minister’s dismissal.

President Masoud Pezeshkian defended Hemmati, attributing the economic crisis to a state of “full-scale economic war” with external forces. However, lawmakers, including Ruhollah Motefakker-Azad and Fatemeh Mohammadbeigi, directly blamed Hemmati for the hardship faced by ordinary Iranians, highlighting the unaffordability of essential goods and medical supplies.

Hemmati, a former central bank governor, argued that the exchange rate fluctuations reflected inflationary expectations rather than a true reflection of the rial’s value. He also stressed that chronic inflation, a long-standing problem exacerbated by decades of US sanctions, was the root cause of the economic woes.

The dismissal follows a pattern of ministerial changes in Iran linked to economic struggles. Hemmati’s replacement is Rahmatollah Akrami, a deputy economy minister. The Iranian economy has been severely impacted by sanctions, particularly since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal. While President Pezeshkian expressed a personal preference for dialogue with the US, he confirmed adherence to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rejection of negotiations. Iran has experienced inflation consistently above 30% annually since 2019, reaching 44% in 2023 according to the World Bank.

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