Protests in Iranian Parliament Over Vice President's Tweet Regarding Budget Bill

A tweet from one of the Vice Presidents of Iran regarding changes to the budget bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly sparked protests from a representative and the Speaker of the Parliament. According to Iranian news agencies, Behrouz Nemati on Tuesday, February 6, referred to a tweet by Jamshid Ansari, the head of the Administrative and Recruitment Organization, in the open session of the Parliament, accusing him of 'undermining the authority and position of the Parliament with his tweeting.' Jamshid Ansari, who is also a Vice President of Iran, had tweeted two days prior in response to changes made to the government's budget bill that 'today the Joint Commission and Parliament, under the pretext of approving the budget, have become the main actors in disrupting the rules of governance.' He also compared the actions of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government with those of Hassan Rouhani's government regarding the budget bill, stating that Ahmadinejad's government attempted to disrupt the country's general laws with its budget bill, but now the Parliament is doing so, and 'everything has changed!' In recent years, multiple reports of violations by Ahmadinejad's government have been published. In one instance, the Iranian Court of Accounts announced that Ahmadinejad had illegally spent over 4600 billion tomans from oil sales since 2008, which should be returned to the treasury. However, Behrouz Nemati, the spokesperson for the Parliament's presiding board, rejected Jamshid Ansari's statements regarding the Parliament's performance, stating that the Parliament is actually 'addressing the flaws in the government's budget bill.' He further added that 'these issues are less significant than for a Vice President to make such statements.' Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, also described Jamshid Ansari's tweet as 'inappropriate' in response to Nemati's remarks. Larijani addressed the government, saying: 'Did you provide a very refined bill to the Parliament that you expect it to be approved as is? The entire government budget bill is clear, and the few items that have been changed or amended in the Parliament are also clear. So what have we disrupted? Why are you shaking the community with such statements?' The Islamic Consultative Assembly, on February 27, took the unprecedented step of voting negatively on the generalities of the budget bill and returned it to the Joint Commission. Three days later, the Iranian Parliament approved the generalities of the budget bill for 2018. Cutting subsidies for millions of citizens and increasing energy prices were two contentious issues between the government and the Parliament, which, according to the Speaker of the Parliament, have now been addressed with the government's proposal changes to 'ensure that all needy individuals receive subsidies.' The head of the Economic Commission of the Parliament also stated to the media that energy prices have not increased and will remain the same as in 2017. However, the protests from Behrouz Nemati and Ali Larijani regarding Jamshid Ansari's tweet prompted the government spokesperson to step in, albeit in support of the Parliament. According to Fars News Agency, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht stated: 'I will definitely speak with the Vice President who posted this tweet.' He added: 'As the Speaker of the Parliament mentioned, the Parliament is taking steps to clarify and amend the budget law. Therefore, the satisfaction of the nation is that the branches of power step towards unity.' Meanwhile, Hassan Rouhani in his press conference on Tuesday stated that the government sought to reach an agreement with the Parliament regarding the subsidy section of the budget bill, but this agreement was not achieved.