Tightening the screws on Raisi's government: Mullah MPs interrogate Iranian FM

Nora Bandari

Members of Iran’s Consultative Assembly are still continuing their efforts to mobilize the necessary signatures to interrogate Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, which expresses the anger and dissatisfaction of the mullah parliamentarians with Amir-Abdollahian’s administration of the country’s foreign policy and his failure so far to resolve the country’s foreign affairs crises, especially with regard to lifting US sanctions on Iran, as those sanctions have exacerbated the economic crisis and the collapse of the local currency in the country.

Iranian interrogation

In a continuous context, MP Habibollah Dahmardeh from Zabol clarified on April 21 about collecting a large number of signatures required to interrogate the Iranian foreign minister on several specific issues, the first related to the lack of water share for Iran from the Hermand River. The second is related to the international sanctions on Iran not being lifted, while the third is related to the assignment of Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani to lead the negotiations with Saudi Arabia. Another issue has to do with firing from Afghan territory on Iran's borders.

First interrogation

It is worth noting that the interrogation of Amir-Abdollahian in the Iranian parliament will be his first since he took office in August 2021, and he will also be the second minister in the government of President Ebrahim Raisi to be interrogated after Industry Minister Reza Fatemi Amin on April 16. It also comes in conjunction with a package of amendments made by Raisi in his economic team on April 11 due to criticism of the Iranian government for failing to manage the country’s economic crisis, which prompted him to dismiss both the head of the Planning and Budget Organization, Masoud Mirkazemi, and Agriculture Minister Mohammad Aghamiri.

Multiple crises

It should be noted that during the recent period, the water share of the Hermand River in Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran, has decreased, which negatively affected the citizens, prompting them to go out in protests condemning the failure of the Iranian authority to obtain the necessary water share for the Hermand River. With regard to the second issue of interrogation, it is related to the slogan of “economic diplomacy” previously raised by the Raisi government to improve the country's economic conditions, but it has not yet succeeded in that, as the negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement in Vienna stalled, and then Washington refused to lift its sanctions on Tehran, despite the state of optimism expressed by Amir-Abdollahian to resolve the crisis of nuclear negotiations.

Also among the issues that the Iranian parliament will question the FM about are related to the causes of gunfire on the Iranian border from Afghanistan that resulted in clashes between Iranian border guards and forces affiliated with the Afghan Taliban movement, leading to a number of deaths and injuries. This is in addition to the Saudi-Iranian agreement that was sponsored by China on March 10, which stipulated the restoration of relations between the two countries after a seven-year rupture. Iranian MPs will ask the foreign minister about the reason for his exclusion from this agreement and assigning the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Shamkhani, to lead it.

Iranian motives

Regarding the motives and implications of this interrogation, Osama al-Hatimi, a researcher specializing in Iranian affairs, explained that the relentless effort to interrogate Amir-Abdollahian comes because the MPs disagree about some of his moves related to some thorny issues, including the file of the Hermand River water crisis, the relationship with the Taliban, the failure to promote tourism in the country despite its enormous tourism potential, and the continued imposition of economic sanctions on the country, which indicates the inaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work to lift these sanctions.

Hatimi pointed out in an exclusive statement to the Reference that Shamkhani's representation of Iran in Beijing's negotiations to reach an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to resume their diplomatic relations does not mean marginalization or disparagement of Amir-Abdollahian, but the reason is the nature of the files for discussion between the two countries, most of which are related to security.

He added that these interrogations come as a tool of pressure exerted by conservatives on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others in order to move very conservatively in opening up to others, so that Amir-Abdollahian and others remain bound by the ideological constants of the Iranian revolution.