Fury in Iran as president sacks deputy over £5,000 cruise to unusual location

Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian has sacked one of his deputies for going on a "lavish" trip to Antarctica with his wife during Persian new year. President Pezeshkian slammed the holiday, taken by Shahram Dabiri and his wife during Nowruz, as "unjustifiable and unacceptable given the ongoing economic challenges".

In a statement on Saturday, the President said Dabari was no longer his vice president of parliamentary affairs, as the journey was "indefensible" independent of whether it was not financed using state funds. "In a government that seeks to follow the values of the first Shia Imam (Imam Ali), and amid significant economic pressures on our people, the lavish travels of government officials, even when personally financed, are indefensible," Pezeshkian said in the statement.

Iran is under tight economic sanctions imposed upon it by the West, including the UK. The theocracy, which is an enemy of Israel and a supporter of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, has an inflation rate of nearly 30% according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Its unemployment rate meanwhile is over 8%. President Pezeshkian said Dabiri's trip "starkly contradict the principle of simplicity that is paramount for those in positions of authority". The row begun after a picture of Dabiri and his wife posing in front of MV Plancius, headed for Antarctica, was circulated on social media.

Prices for the trip start at £5,187, but it is not clear what package Dabiri and his wife were on. Likewise, it also was not clear where the couple boarded the ship.

A common place to get aboard is from Ushuaia in southern Argentina, 1,913 miles from Buenos Aires.

The President was elected last year on the promise of reviving the country's ailing economy and stabilising the finances of ordinary Iranians. According to the BBC he came under pressure to remove the deputy after the images of him in front of the ship circulated online.