Medical Deputy Minister Dismissed After 'Leisure Trip' to Antarctica Exposed

On Saturday, April 16, the President of Iran dismissed his parliamentary deputy, Masoud Pezeshkian, after the news of his leisure trip to Antarctica was confirmed. In a letter addressed to Shahram Dabiri, Pezeshkian wrote, 'It has been confirmed that you were on a leisure trip to Antarctica during the Nowruz holiday... and in a situation where economic pressures on our people are high and there are many deprived individuals, an expensive leisure trip by official authorities, even at personal expense, is not defensible or justifiable.' This announcement comes despite the fact that the public relations office of the parliamentary deputy had previously labeled the reports as 'fabrication' and 'rumors,' stating that Shahram Dabiri's trip to Antarctica 'is not true.' A government statement also claimed, 'The rumor regarding the parliamentary deputy's trip to Antarctica is unfounded, and the published images are old.' This statement referred to photos that Mr. Dabiri's wife posted on Instagram on April 3 and deleted shortly after. One of these photos shows Shahram Dabiri and his wife in front of a cruise ship named 'Plancius,' which was departing for Antarctica on that very day. The controversy over Dabiri's trip comes amid an economic crisis in Iran, where citizens are facing skyrocketing prices for essential goods, and the economic capacity of the people has been diminishing day by day in recent months. Simultaneously, on the first working day of the new year, the prices of various foreign currencies in Iran saw a sudden spike, with the price of the US dollar increasing by five thousand tomans compared to the last day of the previous year, surpassing one hundred thousand tomans. Following the news of the parliamentary deputy's trip to Antarctica, Shahram Dabiri has also been accused on some news sites of appointing his relatives and acquaintances to government positions. There has been no news regarding the investigation or handling of this accusation by Pezeshkian's government. Shahram Dabiri, who is a professor at Tabriz University, has a history of membership in the Tabriz City Council and the Supreme Council of Provinces. In June 2020, the IRNA news agency reported that he was arrested by the IRGC Intelligence for financial corruption while serving as the head of the Tabriz City Council. Iranian media later reported that he was acquitted of this charge and even his eligibility for the sixth term of the city council elections was confirmed.