Less than a week after Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani’s term of office ended, a parliament committee has sued him and his oil minister Bijan Zanganeh for the “premature inauguration” of an oil pipeline and terminal.

Rouhani announced on July 22 that a 1,000-kilometer oil pipeline from its western oil-producing region to its coast further to the east on the Sea of Oman was inaugurated and pumping of oil had started. The aim of the Jask oil terminal is to circumvent the Hormuz Strait which in time of war or tensions can become impassable and deny Iran its traditional sea lanes for oil exports.

"This is a strategic move and an important step for Iran. It will secure the continuation of our oil exports," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "This new crude export terminal shows the failure of Washington's sanctions on Iran,” Rouhani added in effect claiming that despite sanctions Iran was able to complete a difficult strategic project.

But the Article 90 Committee of Iran’s parliament, Majles, says that the pipeline is not ready, and Rouhani rushed to claim credit for it, even inflicting damage on the project, although it does not explain exactly how.

The Article 90 Committee is an influential commission in the parliament that has a right to hear complaints against the three branches of the government and conduct its own investigations of how the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative powers conduct their business.

Hossein Mirzaee who is a member of the committee announced on Monday that a case accusing Rouhani and Zanganeh of deliberate misconduct for inaugurating the pipeline and the Jask oil terminal has been sent to the Judiciary.

Members of the Iranian parliament, dominated by hardliners, have been threatening legal action against Rouhani in recent months, once he would be out of power. Threats ranged from the handling of issues related to Iran’s nuclear program, to more mundane economic and administrative controversies.

Mirzaee said that the Jask pipeline project has technical problems, such as uncompleted sections of pipeline and its pre-mature inauguration “destroyed parts of the project.”

Since the Rouhani government claimed in July that oil was pumped into tankers at Jask, it is not clear how that was accomplished if parts of the pipeline were not completed.

Mirzaee went on to say that the parliamentary committee had warned Rouhani and Zanganeh to hold off, after hearing testimony from experts and engineers, but they ignored the warning. Now, he said, the Judiciary can examine the case and issue its appropriate decision about their responsibility in the matter.

Iran in the past has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to deny Persian Gulf Arab oil exporters to benefit from selling their production, while Iran is under US sanctions and is denied shipping oil to customers. As a result, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have developed their own alternative routs to bypass Hormuz. One choice is using oil terminals on the Sea of Oman and another is pumping the oil to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports.