Iranian Politicians Again Attack Raisi For Economic Failure

While Iran's government claims to be in a good economic situation despite US sanctions, politicians and media continue to seriously question its performance.

The criticisms come at a time when according to an independent assessment, Raisi's approval rating is at a record low of 28 percent, meaning that his meagre popularity in the low-turnout 2021 election has further declined.

Lawmaker Behrouz Mohebbi, a member of the Iranian parliament's Planning and Budget Committee said in an interview with Rouydad24 news website on Tuesday that the parliament (Majles) has serious criticism about the government's economic performance, adding that the Majles will try to fulfil its supervisory role and that it does not care if this annoys the government.

He said the Majles is worried about the performance of all economic ministers. He added that the government's weakness will also portray the hardliner parliament, which has supported the president, in a bad light.

The website pointed out that one year after Raisi was elected the Iranian people are experiencing the hardest days of their lives because of the government's inefficiency in managing the economy.

But only some of Raisi’s domestic critics allude to Iran’s nuclear program and its anti-West foreign policy as reasons for the country’s economic crisis. Most do not cross that red line, which would be perceived as criticism of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is the ultimate decider.

Mohebbi, a conservative lawmaker from Sabzevar, said: "We will monitor and criticize the government regardless of the rumors about the possible resignation or impeachment of some of Raisi's ministers." He charged that the Minister of Industry Reza Fatemi Amin has not fulfilled the objectives of the plan he had presented to parliament, and Roads and Housing Minister Rostam Ghasemi's performance is problematic particularly because of the tragedies that have taken place in recent months in the country's railways and construction industry.

Meanwhile, former lawmaker and the secretary general of the Iranian Green Party Hossein Kanani Moghaddam told Didban Iran on Monday that Vice President Mohammad Mokhber who leads Raisi's economic team is not familiar with economics. As a result, the government has failed to come up with an overall economic policy.

Kanani Moghaddam charged that the government is incapable of interacting with the global economy and some cabinet members are scoring goals against their own team with their blunders. Meanwhile, seriously criticizing the government, he called on Raisi to begin to work with a strong and coordinated team.

Didban Iran pointed out that even Raisi's former supporters agree with his critics that the current government is unlikely to have a reasonable performance in the future.

Kanani Moghaddam charged that the members of Raisi's economic team lack teamwork skills and refuse to cooperate and interact with each other. In the meantime, the economic crisis in the government has spread to areas outside Raisi's cabinet.

According to members of the Tehran's City Council Tehran's mayor Alireza Zakani who was a contestant in the 2021 presidential election has failed to manage the municipality's finances. He has been under fire by the councillors and critics in recent days for selling the Tehran Bus Company's buildings and lands to provide cash for the payment of salaries to municipality workers.