The Latest from Iran (25 April): The Economic Challenge Returns

0555 GMT: The news is unlikely to make headlines outside Iran --- it's not as dramatic as the boxing match over Tehran's nuclear programme or as formal as the Islamic Republic's hosting of regional leaders such as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki --- but the story this week is of the resurgence of the economic challenge to the Ahmadinejad Government.

Over the last three days, leading MPs and their supporters have been raising the pressure. They have emphasised the surge in inflation, criticised the Government's mismanagement, and focused on the supposed folly of the second phase of President Ahmadinejad's subsidy cuts. The latter issue is likely to be the immediate target of the Parliament: it wants the Government to abandon the introduction of the second phase and, to drive home the political point, to do so publicly.

This pressure is being combined with other signals. At the start of the week, the Majlis passed a measure setting out impeachment for Ahmadinejad if he fails to answer more than six questions satisfactorily. While Parliament has failed --- so far --- to take the scalp of Presidential advisor Saeed Mortazavi, the message is clear: Ahmadinejad is to be kept in a political box until his term ends next spring.

from EA WorldView: EA Iran

Posted via email from lissping