TEHRAN -- Iran’s parliament on Sunday voted to dismiss the country’s industry minister, the first member of President Ebrahim Raisi’s cabinet to be impeached since his election in 2020.
Parliamentarians, who voted to remove Industry, Mines and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin, accused him of failing to control “skyrocketing prices of automobiles and the rising costs of industrial production” and lambasted him for mismanagement.
“162 of the 272 parliamentarians present voted to unseat the minister,” parliament speaker Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf said on a televised broadcast.
The chamber has 290 seats. Fatemi Amin survived a previous impeachment in 2022.
The decision came following discussion among lawmakers and government officials who questioned the minister.
President Raisi defended Fatemi Amin saying all the fields related to the minister’s portfolio showed growth. He urged lawmakers to reinstate the minister.
“The point is that stability in the ministry is important,” he said.
Opponents said the minister failed to manage his field of activities in industry, mines and trade citing skyrocketing prices of products.
The impeachment marks the sixth change in Raisi’s Cabinet in the less than two years since he came to power.
In March, Raisi replaced the minister of agriculture and the head of planning and budget. Raisi dismissed the education minister after a delay in payments to teachers in April. In December, Raisi replaced the minister of roads after he became terminally ill. Last year, Raisi replaced the labor minister after protests by workers and retirees over payments.