Lawmakers Deflecting Blame, Slam Government For Iran’s Falling Currency
Amid ongoing antigovernment protests, the Islamic Republic’s currency rial has been on freefall, losing value so much that regime’s insiders have started passing the buck.
Amid ongoing antigovernment protests, the Islamic Republic’s currency rial has been on freefall, losing value so much that regime’s insiders have started passing the buck.
Iran’s currency dropped to a new historic low on Sunday, breaking the 410,000 rial resistance point against the US dollar, prompting some parliament members to blame the presidential administration of Ebrahim Riaisi for the economic blow.
Parliament’s Sunday session was held behind closed doors when lawmakers, particularly members of the economic committee, briefed the parliament about the falling rial as well as the high rate of inflation. The explanations by the head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Ali Salehabadi, and Ehsan Khandouzi, the minister of economic and financial affairs, were also delivered before the reporters were allowed to enter.
Mehdi Toghiani, the spokesman of the economic committee, said that one of the main reasons behind the rial’s unprecedented fall is the government’s insistence on ineffective policies, and especially the "mandatory determination of the exchange rate" and "increasing the money supply."
The parliament stacked with hardliners rarely criticizes the like-minded government, but as the crisis has rattled the public amid antigovernment protests, lawmakers tried to deflect blame from the legislature. Economists have long been warning of an impending meltdown, as the regime has failed to resolve its nuclear dispute with the United States, which maintains crippling sanctions on Iran.
Another lawmaker, Rouhollah Izadkhah slammed the 50-percent devaluation of the rial during the current administration, noting that the high demand for foreign currencies should not lead to higher prices for essential goods.
“The national currency of war-torn Syria is eight times higher than Iran’s because it has managed the unofficial (free) market,” he argued.
“The currency market is very turbulent and chaotic, and there is no clear prospect in the horizon, and it is not clear when the exchange rate will be recovered,” said another MP, Kamal Hosseinpour.
"What kind of sustainable economy the minister is talking about," he quipped, criticizing the ministry’s actions – or lack of action – in the currency market. “You cannot blame the enemy for all the problems of the country. What is the plan of the economic team of the government?” he said, urging President Ebrahim Raisi to intervene and introduce measures to control the prices.
Iran has been rocked by nationwide antigovernment protests since mid-September after a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, was killed in police custody. She was arrested for violating the country’s forced hijab rules. But since then, protests have turned against the ruling regime, with many Iranians demanding a secular and democratic form of government.
Opponents of the Islamic Republic have also urged people to withdraw their deposits from government banks to put further pressure on the government, which has been printing more money in recent years. The money supply has grown at an unprecedented pace since September.
In an interview released on Saturday, Canada’s envoy to the United Nations Bob Rae told Iran International’s correspondent that organizations focused on accountability have started to gather and verify information about the current wave of antigovernment protests.
He praised efforts by the United Nations “to get to the root of the injustices that are happening to make sure that the investigations are in place; that we are gathering the information and the evidence that will lead to accountability.”
The Canadian diplomat underlined that there should be consequences for the criminal acts, “and many things that are happening in Iran are criminal,” he said, noting that there are “abuses of human rights and abuses of international law.”
He urged the people of Iran to be patient to see the results of mechanisms deployed to hold the regime accountable, saying there is no tribunal yet because the Islamic Republic is not a party to the International Criminal Court. However, he said that “there will be a reckoning; there will be an accountability process for the regime in Iran.”
"We're not going to invade Iran, but we won't ignore what's happening either. The regime isn't stable or predictable because the ground underneath the feet of the regime is shifting all the time... Dictators think they can control everything, but they can't," he stated, adding that “Canada has always been a place of refuge.”
Earlier in the month, the Islamic Republic was voted out of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls. Members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a US-drafted resolution to "remove with immediate effect the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission…for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.” The CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
It was the second step against the Islamic Republic’s violations of human rights during the current wave of protests. The first step by the United Nations was creating a fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Council. The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council voted on November 24 to launch an independent investigation into the regime’s deadly repression of protests that has killed around 500 civilians, including about 60 children.
The Islamic Republic might become more isolated in the Middle East, as policies of intervening in other countries affairs was condemned at the “Baghdad II” summit, held December 20 in Jordan aimed at resolving regional crises, particularly in Iraq. France and the European Union play a major role in the annual gathering. The first summit was held in Baghdad last year.
Etemad newspaper in Tehran cited Macron as talking about a regional project, supported by France, to limit Iran’s influence in the region. The daily quoted Macron as saying that he is convinced there is no solution to the problems of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria except through reducing Tehran's regional influence.
During the summit, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, "We reject interference in its (Iraq) internal affairs, undermining its sovereignty, or attacking its lands.” At the same time, he added, "We do not accept any threat to be launched from Iraq against any of the neighboring countries or the region."
Since the beginning of the uprising in Iran in mid-September, Tehran has accused foreign countries, including regional rival Saudi Arabia – with which it has had no diplomatic relations since 2016 – of fomenting unrest as protests rage on.
In a post Saturday, Khatibi, 43, said that in the past three months he has been living in hiding and fear. “I was arrested and questioned for allegations made against me 90 days ago, charged and my case was handed over to a judge,” he wrote in Persian in his post which also included a message in English.
Khatibi said his “endless” interrogations came with verbal and physical violence and that after being freed he was assaulted in the street by plainclothes security forces who accused him of blasphemy. The actor said he received so many death threats by phone that he had to change his cellphone number. “I had to leave behind my career, my life, and everything that I had worked hard for all my life.”
The actor has had a stroke during this time and is suffering from panic attacks resulting from the violence he was subjected to, but he says he’s not telling his story to make people feel sorry for him.
”I know and you know that this [revolution] will not stop and that the blood [that is being shed] will not be in vain,” he said while making a plea, presumably to people outside Iran, to be the voice of Iranian protesters and their“unique revolution”.
Over 312,000 “liked” Khatibi’s Instagram post within a day, his first since the very early day of the protests that swept across the country in late September. He has also reposted some of his Instagram stories which have been used as evidence against him. “I will talk about the details of what has happened when the time is right,” he said.
Khatibi is one of scores of celebrities who have been detained for sympathizing with protesters or criticism of the government. Around fifty filmmakers and actors of Iranian cinema are currently in detention.
Only a week ago, Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran's most famous actors, was arrested at her home by security forces for defiantly posting a photo of herself without the compulsory veil and criticizing the death penalty. Over a million of her followers liked her post.
Alidoosti who introduced herself as “actor, translator, feminist, mom” in her social media bio, was holding a poster that read “Women, Life, Freedom”, the signature slogan of the protests or “revolution” as many prefer to say.
“Now sit and watch for the consequences of [your] blood-thirstiness,” she told regime authorities in protest to the execution of Mohsen Shekari, 23, who was hanged on December 8 in Tehran after a bogus trial.
“His name was Mohsen Shekari. Any international organization that witnesses this bloodshed but takes no action is a shame to humanity,” Alidoosti wrote.
A few days after Shekari’s execution, another young man, Majidreza Rahnavard, was hanged from a construction crane on a street in Mashhad while a hand-picked group of government officials and plainclothes security forces watched.
Instagram has deactivated Alidoosti’s account to prevent the authorities from accessing her private messages as it is a well-known fact that one of the first things that authorities do after arresting someone is demanding their email and social media account passwords to dig for information to use against the detainee and others.