Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accepted the resignation of Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari and Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi, Iranian presidency said on Saturday.
Rouhani and his government are under increasing pressure from deputies who blame them for Iran's economic crisis. In August, the pressure ousted two other cabinet ministers, the Labor and Economy Ministers, after withdrawing confidence.
The Iranian presidency said on its website, according to Agence France-Presse, that Rouhani accepted the ministers’ resignation from their positions and took the opportunity to appreciate their continuous efforts during their tenure at the ministries.
The President assigned Assistant Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Reza Rahmani as successor to Shariatmadari, and Governor of Mazandaran (north) Mohammad Eslami as Acting Minister of Roads and Urban Development.
According to media reports, the two ministers submitted their resignation to Rouhani more than a month ago, when parliament was preparing for a vote of confidence.
Rumors circulated in mid-September that Shariatmadari had submitted his resignation, but his ministry rushed to deny the news.
On Saturday, Akhoundi published his resignation letter, which he had signed on September 1, and attributed the reason for stepping down to "differences" which he did not clarify their nature.
In August, the parliament dismissed ministers of Labor and Economic because of the way they handled the country's severe economic crisis, which was aggravated by US sanctions imposed after US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from a nuclear deal signed in 2015 on Iran’s nuclear program.
In August, Rouhani was forced to appear before the parliament to answer deputies' questions about the deteriorating economic situation, in a questioning session he had never undergone during his five years of office.
