Hemmati: The head of the judiciary is still doing his job, but they dismissed me

The former governor of the Central Bank of Iran has criticized his dismissal during the presidential election campaign, saying: "The head of the judiciary is still doing his job," but "I was dismissed from my position a month ago."

Abdul Nasser Hemmati, who was speaking at a meeting attended by members of his campaign team, also complained about the lack of support from government officials and said, "I will never forget the persecution the government inflicted on me."

He also referred to the election debates and said that he had been "a victim of the government's poor performance" during the election, and "I can never remember a government wanting to treat a member of its staff who has served so long like this."

This candidate for the 2020 presidential election has also complained about senior reformist figures, saying he could not understand their reasons for "not entering" and supporting him.

Mr. Hemmati, who managed to win 2,427,201 votes in the election, was dismissed from the post of Governor of the Central Bank of Iran on June 29 by order of Hassan Rouhani.

According to Mr. Hemmati, Hassan Rouhani has emphasized that his presence in the election race could "affect the country's monetary and banking system" and that he should leave the Central Bank.

In the presidential election, Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, was also a candidate and was announced as the winner of the election, but he has not yet resigned from his position, which has sparked criticism.

Ebrahim Raisi, in a meeting of judicial officials with Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Republic, on Monday, July 27, also reported on his performance as head of the judiciary, and the Leader of the Islamic Republic described his record as "good and jihadi."

Mr. Hemmati, who currently teaches as an economics professor at the University of Tehran, has said that after his defeat in the presidential election, "I will not go to the sidelines and will have an active presence."

He, who had no particular political background before the elections and is not a member of any active political party in Iran, has not explained how he will continue his political activities.

Hemmati's forecast for Iran's economy in 1400

Abdolnaser Hemmati also presented a report on Iran's economic situation in 1400, saying that the foreign exchange earnings that were expected to be realized in the first three to four months of the year "none of them happened" and that government officials "are still receiving salaries from the Central Bank to pay current expenses."

He said that the current government is facing a "budget deficit of 400 to 500 trillion tomans" and has not yet been able to sell "a significant amount of bonds and stocks," describing the situation as worrying.

According to the former head of the Central Bank of Iran, investment growth in the Iranian economy has been negative in the last ten years and "nowhere else in the world is like this."

Mr. Hemmati, without mentioning a specific country, said that in the economic field, "our peer countries have greatly surpassed us," and he also expressed concern about the approach of Ebrahim Raisi's economic team.

Hemmati replaced Valiollah Seif as governor of the Central Bank of Iran in August 2018. During his tenure as governor of the Central Bank, the price of the dollar tripled, from 11,000 tomans to more than 34,000 tomans, and the Central Bank's policies regarding the distribution of 4,200 tomans of government currency drew serious criticism.

However, Mr. Hemmati says that he has performed successfully at the Central Bank and has prevented the dollar rate from reaching 50,000 tomans and Iran from turning into Venezuela.

Source: Radio Farda