Small boost for Iran’s president

Iran’s embattled president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has received a rare boost after his economy minister unexpectedly survived an impeachment vote in parliament over a $2.8 billion banking fraud scandal, the biggest in the country’s history.

Lawmakers in the house, which is dominated by the president’s opponents, voted 141 to 93 yesterday to retain Shamseddin Hosseini, who was accused of lax oversight of the banking sector.

However, Mr Ahmadinejad remains threatened with the humiliating possibility of being hauled before parliament for questioning on a host of issues, including the banking scandal, after the required number of MPs issued a petition on Sunday to summon him. The process could ultimately lead to the president’s impeachment.

Keen to avoid the damaging spectacle of a rift in the regime, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blocked earlier moves to bring the president before the chamber for a grilling on the government’s policies and performance.

But relations between Iran’s two most powerful men have soured and the ayatollah now seems ready to let the threat of impeachment hang over the headstrong president as a means to keep him in check during his remaining 20 months in office.

The supreme leader has previously signalled that he wants Mr Ahmadinejad to serve out his term – but not at any price.

Analysts say the ayatollah currently sees Mr Ahmadinejad as a useful lightning rod, absorbing responsibility for Iran’s economic and political malaise.

The president would have to do “something overly provocative in the coming year” to change that thinking, said Farideh Farhi, an Iran expert at the University of Hawaii.