The Islamic Republic's government has attributed the resignation of Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad to "personal reasons". According to Iran International, Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications and information at the president's office, said Paknejad had resigned long ago and that Masoud Pezeshkian finally accepted the resignation at his own insistence.
Pezeshkian accepted Paknejad's resignation on the evening of Sunday, 4 October 2026, and appointed Hamid Bord, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, as acting oil minister. Paknejad had served as oil minister since August 2024.
The case of the middlemen and oil-sales "trustees"
The resignation comes amid growing attention to the network of middlemen the Islamic Republic relies on to circumvent sanctions and sell its oil. On 8 September, citing two confidential documents from the Oil Ministry and the Supreme National Security Council, Iran International reported that large oil cargoes had been handed over on credit and at heavy discounts to four indebted "trustees". The report named Mohammad Javad Bavand, Paknejad's special assistant for overseeing oil trade, as the central figure managing the new network of middlemen.
According to Rigzone, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, head of the judiciary, had earlier criticised trustees accused of failing to return oil-sales revenue to the country. Government officials have not announced any link between this case and the oil minister's resignation.
Exports halted and an economy under pressure
According to Rigzone, the US naval blockade in the Persian Gulf has halted the Islamic Republic's oil exports, its main source of foreign currency, and forced Tehran to cut production; at the same time, shortages of petrol and natural gas have worsened because of the war. Before resigning, Paknejad had said revenue from oil already sold was still being collected. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, by contrast, had claimed that not a single Iranian oil cargo would be at sea in the first week of October.
The Guardian also reported the resignation against the backdrop of a sharp drop in oil revenue, runaway inflation and a shrinking Iranian economy. No other official reason has been given for the oil minister's departure.
The government called the oil minister's resignation personal, but it came at the height of the export halt and the oil-sales middlemen case.
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