Iran's parliament blames Rouhani for economic troubles, refers him to judiciary

[Raphe M]

Source: Reuters

AUGUST 28, 2018 / 2:40 AM / UPDATED 39 MINUTES AGO

LONDON (Reuters) - Pressures mounted on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday as lawmakers summoned him to answer questions on weak economic growth and rising prices, but the parliament was not convinced by his answers and referred the case to the judiciary.

Defending his cabinet’s performance, Rouhani said the economic troubles only began when Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran, but many lawmakers were not satisfied with the answer according to vote results at the end of the session.

If the majority of lawmakers are not convinced with the president’s answers, they can see it as “a breach of law” and refer the case to the judiciary. The lawmakers have the power to impeach the president, and vote on his lack of competence, but such a motion is not before parliament at this stage.

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament sacked the minister of economic affairs and finance due to the sharp fall in the rial currency and the deterioration in the economic situation. In early August Iranian lawmakers voted out the minister of labor and last month Rouhani replaced the head of the central bank.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-economy-rouhani-sanctions/irans-parliament-blames-rouhani-for-economic-troubles-refers-him-to-judiciary-idUSKCN1LD0DD

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Have Britain, France, Germany and the other countries involved reimposed their sanctions too? Surely America alone doesn't have that much power over Iran's economy. Or do we?

[FBaggins]

1. Sanctions only just restarted

So there’s some question re: how much impact they would have had.

But yes, the US alone has that much power, because while Europe has not imposed sanctions (in fact, they have acted to shield their companies from the sanctions regime), the US still has influence over those companies since most do far more business with us than Iran.

[Trust Buster]

2. This is just a way for the hard right in Iran to weaken moderate gains in the past years.

Don the Con just killed moderate gains in Iran.