Iran’s parliament opened impeachment proceedings on Sunday against the country’s finance minister following high inflation and a sharp depreciation of the national currency, the rial.

On the black market on Sunday, the rial was trading at more than 920,000 to the US dollar, compared with less than 600,000 in mid-2024.

President Masoud Pezeshkian will offer lawmakers his defence of Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati, who will also speak in support of his own record.

Parliament is expected to vote on the impeachment in the afternoon, with any dismissal requiring the backing of a majority of the 290-seat body.

Many lawmakers raised their voices as they took turns angrily censuring the economy minister, who they believe is responsible for the dire economic situation.

“People cannot tolerate the new wave of inflation; the rise in the price of foreign currency and other goods must be controlled,” said one parliamentarian, Ruhollah Motefakker-Azad.

“People cannot afford to buy medicine and medical equipment,” said another, Fatemeh Mohammadbeigi.

Pezeshkian took office in July with the ambition of reviving the economy and ending some Western-imposed sanctions.

But the depreciation of the rial has only intensified, especially since the fall in December of Iran ally Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

The day before his government was toppled in Damascus, a dollar traded on Iran’s black market for around 717,000 rials.

– Runaway inflation –

Decades of US-led sanctions have also battered Iran’s economy, with inflation worsening since Washington pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in 2018.

The deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, provided for an easing of sanctions and the return of Western investment to Iran in return for increased limits on the country’s nuclear activities.

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 Islamic republic.

The Iranian economy has since 2018 been under pressure from galloping inflation, high unemployment and the depreciation of its currency, which weighs heavily on everyday Iranians.

Since 2019, inflation in Iran has been above 30 percent annually, according to figures from the World Bank.

In 2023, it reached a whopping 44 percent, according to the Washington-based institution’s last report.

According to the Iranian constitution, a dismissal of the minister would be effective immediately, with a caretaker appointed until the government chooses a replacement.

In April 2023, MPs voted to dismiss then-minister of industry Reza Fatemi Amin due to a surge in prices linked to international sanctions.

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