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2.7 Tehran votes in new reformist mayor after predecessor’s downfall in spat
Tehran City Council voted for reformist Mohammad Ali Afshani to take over as the Iranian capital’s city mayor, Islamic Republic News Agency reported on May 13. The former mayor, Mohammad Ali Najafi, who served just seven months , was caught up in a public spat with conservative clerics who accused him of promoting "immoral culture" following a dance performance by 10-year-old girls at a theatre in the city of more than 12mn people. Following the disagreement, Najafi handed in his resignation. However, the official reason given for his departure was that he was suffering from cancer.
Following Najafi’s resignation, the city made Samiollah Hosseini Makarem acting mayor. However, in voting he lost out to Afshani by 19 votes to 22. Afshani is not a widely known politician. He is a member of the small National Trust Party of Iran, a reformist party, which campaigns for the amending of the Iranian constitution to strengthen the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist over the single supreme leader.
Towing the line of the Rouhani-bloc of reformists, Afshani told local newspaper Sharq (East) that he was looking to make Tehran a “more liveable city”. He proposed significant moves in traffic development and public transport promotion.
3.0 Macro Economy
3.1 Macroeconomic overview, outlook
Iran’s central bank governor says US nuclear deal withdrawal “will not be felt on our economy”
Ahead of Donald Trump’s announcement late on May 8 that he is withdrawing the US from the nuclear deal and reimposing the heaviest economic sanctions on Tehran, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Valiollah Seif, sought to assure Iranians that their country's economy will not be affected by the decision, Mashregh News reported.
Seif said in a press conference that Iran’s move in April to unify the official and free market Iranian rial (IRR) rates against hard currencies would, when applied to imports and exports, shield the economy from the worst blowback from a US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCOPA).
The new currency arrangements, brought in when the IRR went into a record-breaking nosedive against the dollar on the free market, had helped to appropriately control Iran’s foreign exchange reserves so that they can be fully utilised for required priorities, he added.
"At present, there is enough currency to allocate to essential commodities, materials, and household expenditure, and therefore the effects of US decision will not be felt on our economy," Seif said.
10 IRAN Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com