Iranian Oil Minister Resigns

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad has resigned from his post. The government has not officially disclosed the reason for his resignation.

The office of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced the resignation on Sunday. Pezeshkian has accepted Paknejad’s resignation.

Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy head of the presidential office for communications and media affairs, said Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), has been appointed acting oil minister.

Iran is currently facing severe economic pressure. US naval restrictions and stringent sanctions have limited the country’s oil exports and access to foreign currency.

Citing a Bloomberg report, Shafaq News reported that Iran was unable to load any crude oil onto tankers for the first time in September, following the outbreak of war between the United States, Israel and Iran in late February. In August, Iran had loaded around 250,000 barrels of crude oil onto tankers per day.

However, the government has not indicated whether Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad’s resignation is directly linked to the country’s economic pressures.