The News
Iranian lawmakers impeached the country’s finance minister Abdolnaser Hemmati, blaming him for skyrocketing inflation and a plummeting currency.
The move is a blow to Iran’s moderate president Masoud Pezeshkian, who was open to negotiations with the US over easing sanctions in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear program, but was overruled by Iran’s supreme leader.
Washington has shown no interest in such talks, with the Trump administration aiming to cripple Iran’s economy further while ferrying weapons to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms would be used to “finish the job against Iran’s terror axis,” with Tehran’s regional proxies hobbled by Israeli attacks in recent months. Iran is “historically weak,” a Eurasia Group analyst noted, and any “concessions will need to come soon.”