TEHRAN —
The speaker of
Iran’s parliament on Saturday responded to days of criticism
after his family was seen stocking up on baby products from abroad as millions
of Iranians face crippling economic conditions.
اضافة اعلان
Conservative
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has been in hot water for almost two weeks after
pictures emerged of his wife, daughter and son-in-law returning from Turkey
with items including clothes for his unborn grandchild.
A hashtag critical
of Ghalibaf went viral on social media, with many users sharing a 2017 video in
which he called for officials who shop abroad instead of supporting local
products to be censured.
Ghalibaf said Saturday
that he had opposed his family’s trip as “not advisable”, but alleged critics
had “told stories about the shopping” in an effort to discredit the parliament.
“All of that was a
lie,” ISNA news agency quoted him as saying before a parliamentary session.
He cited
allegations that his family had gone abroad to buy property with forged
documents.
“The parliament has
done great things in these two years, and they are trying hard to damage” its
name, he said.
Iran’s economy has
suffered under stringent sanctions reimposed by the US after it unilaterally
pulled out of a deal with world powers on Iran’s nuclear program in 2018.
Official data
indicates inflation hovers around 40 percent.
Ghalibaf is a
member of the
Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran’s military.
He was previously a
mayor of Tehran and commander of the national police force, and ran for the
presidency in 2017.
In 2020, he was
elected as speaker of the conservative-dominated parliament.
Ghalibaf’s son Elyas has called his relatives’ trip to
Turkey an “unforgivable mistake”.
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