Iran's labor minister resigns as economic protests grow
The first high-profile resignation in President Ebrahim Raisi's government comes as he scrambles to soothe public fury over unprecedented rising living costs.
Iran's Minister for Labor, Welfare and Social Affairs Hojjatollah Abdolmaleki publicly announced his resignation on June 14, officially confirming recent media reports and dodging an impeachment bid planned in parliament corridors.
Hours after the announcement, government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi declared at a presser in Tehran that President Ebrahim Raisi had accepted the resignation before appointing a caretaker replacement while keeping Abdolmaleki as an adviser.
In his resignation letter addressed to Raisi and posted on Twitter, the ex-minister did not explain the grounds on which his decision had been made. "During my 300 days in this ministry, I went out of my way for honest service to the dear people of my country," the 41-year-old hard-liner wrote, describing himself as a "humble soldier of the Islamic establishment."
The resignation marked the first departure from Raisi's administration 10 months after his inauguration and occurred under mounting pressure from Iranians disillusioned by worsening livelihood conditions.
