In the latest blow to the administration of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Iran's conservative-dominated parliament impeached the transportation minister on Sunday, accusing him of financial mismanagement and a shady aviation deal. After several hours of debate, 188 legislators voted to strip Ahmad Khorram of his Cabinet post. Fifty-eight voted in his favor and nine abstained. Conservative lawmakers raised loud cheers of "Allahu akbar" or "God is great." A senior conservative lawmaker, former deputy foreign minister Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said the vote was parliament's "show of strength." The conservatives accused Khorram of financial mismanagement and of jeopardizing Iran's security by signing a deal with TAV, a Turkish-Austrian aviation consortium, to operate at the new Imam Khomeini International Airport on the outskirts of Tehran.
| "What's he doing bringin' dem furriners in here! Next thing ya know he'll allow women to show a little leg, and then where are we, I ask yas? |
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