Government Is At An Impasse, Iranian Politicians Say

This week has been the most challenging for the government of President Ebrahim Raisi as the national currency is in freefall against the US dollar and the government seems just bewildered and confused.

A seasoned politician and political analyst has asserted that President Raisi’s administration is simply incapable of solving the country’s problems, and it is best for everyone that he resigns.

Former lawmakers Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi has said in an interview with Rouydad24 news website that Raisi should resign his post before he discredits himself even more than the credibility he has already lost. Imanabadi further charged that Raisi understands neither politics nor the economy.

“What he says about his ‘popular government’ insults the nation’s intelligence,” the politician said, adding that Raisi’s performance has even discredited his father-in-law Ahmad Alamolhoda, a firebrand cleric, who is Ali Khamenei’s representative in Khorasan Province.

He said the Raisi administration has imposed a huge cost on the nation by doing nothing and simply chanting slogans. Imanabadi added: “The best thing he can do is to resign at once and disband the government.” At the same time, he said, the Guardian Council should allow more popular candidates such as former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Majles Speaker Ali Larijani to run for president.

Imanabadi claimed that while Khamenei had allowed negotiations with the West, Raisi and his team refused to make an agreement to revive the nuclear deal and imposed a high cost on the nation. He also criticized Raisi for going to China this month, while the Chinese President has not apologized for making a comment that undermined Iran’s territorial integrity.

Imanabadi predicted that because of Raisi’s performance, protests will start once again in the spring when angry people take to the street against the government.

Meanwhile, Khabar Online wrote on Wednesday, February 22, that before February, Iranian lawmakers often talked about questioning the government about its economic policy, but now the situation is so serious that no one at the parliament wants anything less than impeaching the ministers and the President. Khabar Online quoted lawmaker Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini as having said: “Majles [parliament] can impeach the ministers and the government. The situation is worse than ever.”

Meshkini said that the Majles is planning to impeach up to 9 of Raisi’s cabinet ministers. The president’s economic team is incompetent although some of Iran’s problems are the result of its foreign policy and flaws in the country’s political structure.

He added that the Majles held a two-hour long closed-door session on Monday during which lawmakers resolved to hold the government accountable and he reiterated that the current situation cannot continue any further.

Meshkini explained that some lawmakers believe impeachment is a time consuming process and maintain that a better solution is to convince Raisi to change his cabinet altogether. On the other hand, some lawmakers prefer to keep silent to ensure their electability next year by remaining loyal to the hardliner camp.

In another development, prominent reformist analyst Abbas Abdi wrote in Etemad newspaper that Raisi is not fit for the presidency.

He said one month after Raisi promised to the parliament that the rial will regain value, we have seen a 15 percent rise for the dollar. Abdi charged that the government has no economic plan and measures such as replacing the Central Bank governor will not solve the problem.

Unfortunately, this government cannot stand up to the job of solving the country’s problems and no positive change can be expected. Iran is going to miss opportunities and even positive measures such as releasing political prisoners cannot bring back people’s trust, Abdi said.