Iranian MPs to Question President over Economic Woes

MP Ali Khezrian told Fars News Agency on Sunday that 200 lawmakers have endorsed the motion and submitted it to the parliament’s presiding board, according to which President Rouhani should appear before the legislature to answer questions on his government’s failure to control the fluctuation in housing market and the price of basic commodities.

In the motion, the lawmakers have cited the Article 88 of the Constitution to question the president on five main topics, including the rial’s decline and the dramatic rise in the foreign currency rates, the uncontrolled housing and automobile markets, such as the soaring inflation in the price of housing that has reached several hundred percent in the past couple of years.

The MPs also want to ask the president where in the 2015 nuclear agreement his government had made a “strategic mistake” that the US could easily withdraw from the JCPOA without paying any price and the Europeans are also rudely urging Iran to remain committed to the nuclear deal without honoring theirs.

The motion also includes questions about the administration’s failure to provide decent financial support for the businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak as well as the ambiguities in disbursement of subsidized foreign currency for various sectors and the effects of such allocation of funds on inflation.

In comments on Sunday, President Rouhani blamed the recent fluctuations in foreign currency prices on “a complicated psychological operation” launched by the enemies aimed at undermining Iran’s oil-free economy through intensified pressures.

The president had announced in June that the fluctuations in the foreign currency market were temporary and had no fundamental economic reason.

The Iranian rial has fallen to its lowest ever rate against the US dollar on the unofficial market in recent days.