Iran’s Parliament will take another look at the motion to summon the president for questioning.
The Fars News Agency reports that Mohammadreza Bahonar, the deputy head of Parliament, told the session on Wednesday that the motion will be examined next week.
The announcement came after a number of MPs once again demanded action on the motion.
MP MohammadJavad Abatai said: “It has been a while since a number of MPs signed a motion to question the president, and if the motion carried the necessary signatures, why is Parliament delaying the issue?”
He went on to add that Parliament should call the president for questioning and avoid contravening the constitution.
Bahonar responded to Abtai, saying: “Most probably we will decide over the questioning of the president next week, and if the petition has the necessary signatures, then we will announce the names of the signatories and officially announce the motion to question the president.”
The motion in question was submitted to Parliament’s presiding board in June bearing 100 signatures.
Analysts say the matter calls for the approval of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Ali Motahari, a conservative MP who resigned last week over Parliament’s refusal to address the motion, said in a letter that it is not in the country’s best interest for the Supreme Leader to get invovled in this motion.
Motahari adds that he wrote to the leader on the issue a month ago but received no response, which he has interpreted as the leader’s “indifference” to the matter or his satisfaction with the motion
The motion calls upon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to appear before Parliament for questioning over several alleged irregularities, including the failure to implement legislation regarding the Tehran subway system, a lack of clarity in the official unemployment statistics and the president’s thwarting, for 11 days, of Ayatollah Khamenei’s order to reinstate the Minister of Intelligence.
