Controversies Surrounding the Impeachment of Fatemi Amin Continue Part One

The Controversies Surrounding the Impeachment of Fatemi Amin Continue, Part One

The controversies surrounding the impeachment of Fatemi Amin continue. According to Iran Gate, on the day the eleventh parliament voted to remove Seyyed Reza Fatemi Amin from the position of Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, no one imagined that this would lay the groundwork for a serious crisis between Ebrahim Raisi’s government and the revolutionary parliament. However, about two weeks after this event, we are witnessing the escalation of differences between the executive and legislative branches, a conflict that seemed unlikely and unimaginable in 2021 but has now become one of the ongoing crises in the country’s political and economic sphere.

For about two weeks, Ahmad Alirezabeigi, a representative from Tabriz in the revolutionary parliament, has raised the issue of 75 parliament members receiving SUVs from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade. As mentioned in the press, Alirezabeigi claims that these 75 vehicles were given to the representatives in exchange for withdrawing their signatures from the impeachment plan of the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade. In any case, this revelation had its effect, and Fatemi Amin was impeached, but the story does not end here, and its controversies still continue.

The Parliament Defied Raisi

According to reports published in the media the night before Fatemi Amin’s impeachment, it was not intended for Ebrahim Raisi to accompany his minister on the verge of impeachment. The protests of the representatives supporting the impeachment at the beginning of the session also indicate the accuracy of this news. Observers believe that the head of the thirteenth government was so confident in his minister receiving a vote of confidence from the revolutionary parliament that he altogether refrained from attending the parliament. However, it seems that from 10 AM on Sunday, the situation changed, and the lobbying by members of the Stability Front in the parliament, as well as other government supporters, backfired.

Therefore, even though Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tries to justify Raisi’s absence by referring to the parliamentary regulations, suddenly the President makes an unannounced appearance in the open session of parliament. However, Raisi’s presence in the parliament lasted less than an hour, and he limited himself to a half-hour speech defending his minister. But the problem arises when, contrary to Raisi’s expectations, his mediation did not work, and the representatives voted heavily in favor of impeaching Fatemi Amin. This is while the minister of industry, mine, and trade’s accompanying delegation unprecedentedly included four ministers, and even the first vice president accompanied him.

This means the parliament voted to impeach the minister with full awareness of the fact that the government had fully supported Ebrahim Raisi’s favored member in the cabinet. The representatives knew well that their action could provoke the government into opposing them, but nonetheless, they issued a vote that can be said to have defied Ebrahim Raisi, whom they themselves had invited to run in the presidential elections.

Raisi Becomes Angry

The arguments that occurred on May 10, 2023, in the open session of parliament provoked Ebrahim Raisi’s anger, and we have witnessed its results in recent days. Reports received by Iran Gate indicate a sharp reaction from Ebrahim Raisi to the news of the decisive vote by representatives in favor of impeaching his favored minister. He was also extremely upset by the speeches of the impeachment supporters before the vote, and he ordered a report on the case of 147 vehicles received by representatives and parliament staff to be prepared by special inspection and immediately published.

This order from the head of the government led to the publication of a report that confirmed the original issue of vehicle receipt by revolutionary parliament representatives. However, the problem is that the special inspector’s report from the President made no mention of Fatemi Amin, as the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade at the time, being aware of this matter. In other words, the government claimed that the representatives returned their signatures from the impeachment plan of a minister who was unaware of the situation.

In any case, the government’s reaction to the impeachment of Fatemi Amin was so intense that many representatives of the eleventh parliament have made strong statements in recent days. From Mojtaba Tavangar, a representative close to the Stability Front, to Ehsan Arkani, a representative from Neyshabur, and also Ahmad Alirezabeigi, they have made controversial statements accusing the government of abusing its resources. In the second part of this case, the reactions of the representatives and the outlook of these conflicts will be addressed.