Iranian Vice President sacked for ‘extravagant’ holiday trip

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has fired his vice president for parliamentary affairs following what state media described as an “extravagant personal trip” by the latter during the Persian New Year (Nowruz) holidays.

In a decree issued to the vice-president, Shahram Dabiri, on Saturday, the president said that after reviewing a report on Dabiri’s trip, he had decided to terminate him, IRNA news agency reported.

Given the many economic hardships faced by the public, extravagant trips by officials, even if covered by personal income, are “not defendable and justifiable and run contrary to a minimalist lifestyle expected of Iranian officials,” the president said, according to IRNA.

According to Al Arabiya, a photo shared on social media in recent days showed the now former vice president, Shahram Dabiri, alongside a woman identified as his wife, posing near the Plancius cruise ship, a Dutch-flagged vessel that has been offering luxury expeditions to Antarctica since 2009.