Iran: $3.37 Billion Stolen in Latest Government-Linked Embezzlement Case
In recent weeks, numerous cases of organized corruption involving various agencies, ministries, and even the central bank have been reported. For example, the General Inspection Organization of the regime announced on December 2, that $3.37 billion in subsidy currency had been allocated to an importer for importing tea between 2019 and 2022, but no goods were imported for $2 billion of that amount, and the currency was sold in the free market. Additionally, in other imported goods worth $1.37 billion, there was a “multiple underreporting” of several times.
There have also been reports this week of simultaneous embezzlement and forgery in the payment of 244 marriage loans in the city of Qom, central Iran.
In another example of reports regarding embezzlement and financial corruption within the institutions of the Iranian regime, a member of Tehran City Council revealed on December 5 that it is unclear where 170 trillion rials (approximately $337.5 million) from the municipality’s budget have gone.
On 5 December, Heshmat-Allah Falahat Pishe, a former member of the regime’s Majlis parliament), told the state-run Etemad newspaper: “The Majlis has remained silent in the face of the disclosure of one of the largest embezzlements, which was predominantly carried out during the thirteenth government.”
Furthermore, Maryam Shokrani, an economic journalist and the economic secretary of the regime’s Shargh newspaper, commented on the recently exposed embezzlements, saying: “Only two cases of corruption have caused the country to lose around 2000 trillion rials (approximately $3.96 billion).”
Referring to the “astonishing corruption of the owner of the Debsh tea brand,” she mentioned that this one importer alone has taken “around $240 million annually,” which is equivalent to “14 years of tea imports acquired at a cheap dollar rate.”
The journalist stated that the tea imports in the past year amounted to “approximately 110,000 tons,” which is “twice the country’s need.” She said that these reckless imports, for which the importer also received a cheap dollar rate, have resulted in “setting the price of tea six times higher than the global consumer price, while also artificially inflating the price through hoarding,” causing significant damage to tea farmers.
Shokrani also emphasized reports about financial corruption documents of the Noor Financial and Credit Institution, which has links to “a number of influential individuals,” including “support from the members of the Majlis at the time.” She stressed that the “main shareholders” of this institution have obtained “large-scale facilities with fictitious accounts and destroyed the documents.”
The journalist continued, stating that “ultimately, this loss will likely be paid from the pockets of the people through inflation.”
Reactions to financial corruption in Iran have increased following the disclosure of several embezzlement cases.
Continuing with embezzlements and financial corruption within the institutions of the Islamic Republic, a member of Tehran City Council revealed on December 5 that it is unclear where the amount of “170 trillion rials” from the capital city’s budget has gone.
Of course, the last thing that concerns the MPs and other regime officials, if at all, is the livelihoods of millions of Iranians who are living in abject poverty. The reality is that they are fighting over who gets a bigger share of the pie.
In the meantime, the government continues to face the budget deficit problem and it will have to deal with growing waves of protests by teachers, pensioners, workers, and other segments of society whose longstanding demands remain unanswered.
Systematic Corruption within the Iranian regime’s officials
Ali Khan-Mohammadi, the head of the “Managers’ Guidance Patrol,” has reported widespread economic and ethical corruption among managers in various Iranian institutions, stating that numerous cases of “ethical corruption” by managers have been reported, with the highest number of cases related to “financial corruption.”
According to the regime’s Didbaniran website citing Khan-Mohammadi’s remarks, corruption among managers within the Iranian regime is extensive, ranging from ethical corruption to corruption in contracts and appointments. He further stated that corruption is deeply rooted in administrative institutions and has affected the country’s managers.
Khan-Mohammadi also commented on the issue of “tea corruption” and the claims of fighting corruption by various authorities, saying, “We cannot claim to have fought corruption and that there are no more corrupt managers. Unfortunately, corruption is deeply rooted in administrative institutions, involving some of the country’s managers, and this issue cannot be concealed.”
He referred to the current dilemmas in the discovery and confrontation of managerial corruption as “legal weaknesses.”
This is happening while the Iranian regime and security and monitoring agencies, including the “Morality Police,” enforce regulations regarding people’s attire, with or without clear laws.
Within the context of Khan-Mohammadi’s statements, there are indications of concealment and political considerations. He mentioned a case in which a violation was reported in the municipality, but after the violation was confirmed and addressed, its media coverage was prevented.
In recent weeks, numerous cases of organized corruption involving various agencies, ministries, and even the central bank have been reported. For example, the General Inspection Organization of the regime announced on December 2, that $3.37 billion in subsidy currency had been allocated to an importer for importing tea between 2019 and 2022, but no goods were imported for $2 billion of that amount, and the currency was sold in the free market. Additionally, in other imported goods worth $1.37 billion, there was a “multiple underreporting” of several times.
In another example of reports regarding embezzlement and financial corruption within the institutions of the Islamic Republic, a member of Tehran City Council revealed on December 5 that it is unclear where 170 trillion rials (approximately $337.5 million) from the municipality’s budget have gone.
There have also been reports this week of simultaneous embezzlement and forgery in the payment of 244 marriage loans in the city of Qom, central Iran.
Experts believe that regardless of who the head of the government is, the organized and systematic network of corruption and economic mafia in Iran continues its activities with the support of the “first circle of governance,” and the escalation of tensions between the Iranian government and other countries further boosts their activities.
Iranian Security Forces Raped Detained Protesters, Amnesty International Reports
On Thursday, December 6, Amnesty International released its latest report on the conditions of Iranian regime opponents and detainees of the protests in 2022 in Iran. The organization stated that the regime security forces have extensively used sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence to intimidate protesters and opponents.
The report documented in detail the harrowing ordeals of 45 survivors of nationwide protests in 2022, including 26 men, 12 women and seven children, who were subjected to rape, gang rape and/or other forms of sexual violence by intelligence and security forces.
The report reveals that perpetrators of rape and other forms of sexual violence included agents from the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary Basij force, and the Ministry of Intelligence, as well as different branches of the police force including the Public Security Police (police amniat-e omoumi), the Investigation Unit of Iran’s police (agahi), and the Special Forces of the police (yegan-e vijeh).
The report reads in part, “State agents raped women and girls vaginally, anally and orally, while men and boys were raped anally. Survivors were raped with wooden and metal batons, glass bottles, hosepipes, and/or agents’ sexual organs and fingers. Rape took place in detention facilities and police vans, as well as schools or residential buildings unlawfully repurposed as detention places.
Rape and other sexual violence were frequently accompanied by other forms of torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, administration of unidentified pills or injections, denial of food and water, and cruel and inhuman detention conditions. Security forces also routinely denied survivors medical care, including for rape-related injuries.
The overwhelming majority of survivors told Amnesty International that they did not file complaints after release, fearing further harm and believing the judiciary to be a tool of repression rather than redress.
Amnesty International also examined a leaked official document, dated 13 October 2022, and published by a media outlet outside Iran in February 2023, which reveals that the authorities covered up complaints of rape made by two young women against two Revolutionary Guards agents during the protests. The Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran advised in the document to classify the case as “completely secret” and suggested to gradually “close [the case] over time.”
“Our research exposes how intelligence and security agents in Iran used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish and inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on protesters, including children as young as 12. The harrowing testimonies we collected point to a wider pattern in the use of sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities’ armory of repression of the protests and suppression of dissent to cling to power at all costs,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnés Callamard said.
“Amnesty International shared its findings with the Iranian authorities on 24 November but has thus far received no response,” Callamard said.
“Without political will and fundamental constitutional and legal reforms, structural barriers will continue to plague Iran’s justice system, which has time and again exposed its shameful inability and unwillingness to effectively investigate crimes under international law,” Callamard added.
Agnés Callamard addressed free countries saying, “We urge states to initiate criminal investigations in their own countries against suspected perpetrators under the principle of universal jurisdiction, with a view to issuing international arrest warrants.”
Revolutionary Guards Seize Two Vessels in the Persian Gulf
The Iranian regime’s IRGC has seized two vessels with 34 foreign crew members in the Persian Gulf on charges of “fuel smuggling.” The IRGC announced the seizure of the ships on December 6.
According to the regime’s news agencies, citing Ali Ozmayee, the commander of the fifth naval zone of the IRGC, one of these ships, with 13 foreign crew members, was smuggling 2.28 million liters of fuel and was seized near Abu Musa Island in the south.
He added that the other ship, with 21 foreign crew members, was carrying 2.3 million liters of smuggled fuel and was confiscated by IRGC forces.
No information was provided about the nationality of the foreign sailors or the countries to which the ships belonged.
This is not the first time the IRGC seizes foreign ships in the Persian Gulf. The United States announced earlier this summer that Iran had “attacked, harassed, or detained over 20 ships in the Persian Gulf” in the past two years.
In one such incident on July 7th, the IRGC claimed to have detained a vessel with 12 foreign crew members carrying 900 tons of smuggled fuel.
The IRGC had previously attempted to seize two foreign oil tankers in the south waters of Iran, but the attempt was intercepted by the US Navy.
The IRGC claims that these actions are taken with a “judicial order” to prevent cheap fuel from leaving the country and being smuggled to other regional countries.
In addition to the IRGC, the Iranian Army’s Navy also detained a foreign oil tanker, the “Advantage” of Switzerland, in May, claiming that it had collided with an Iranian boat.
John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, called on Tehran to put an end to the continued detention of foreign ships in the Persian Gulf by Iranian military forces.
Mr. Kirby emphasized in a July 20 interview that no one wants a military confrontation in the Persian Gulf region.
Iran-backed Houthis Attack 3 Commercial Ships in the Red Sea
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Monday, December 3, that the Houthi group in Yemen, backed by the Iranian regime, attacked “three commercial vessels” in the waters of the southern Red Sea. The attack was intercepted by US Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer USS CARNEY.
The CENTCOM statement, released early Monday morning, states that it believes “these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran.”
The statement says that the USS Carney responded to the distress calls of these three commercial ships, which are affiliated with 14 countries, and provided assistance to them.
According to the report, at around 9 a.m. local time in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, a ballistic anti-ship ballistic missile was launched towards the “Unity Explorer” ship from the Houthi-controlled area in the country. The missile landed near the target. CENTCOM further stated that about three hours later, a US naval vessel shot down a Houthi-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), noting that the exact target of this unidentified drone attack could not be determined and it cannot be confirmed that the USS Carney was the intended target. The report continues to state that at approximately 12:35 p.m. on Monday, the “Unity Explorer” ship reported being hit by a missile fired by the Houthis, followed shortly after by an attack from a UAV. The report describes the damage to this British-flagged commercial ship, which was sailing under the flag of the Bahamas, as “minor.” CENTCOM states that Monday afternoon, the commercial ship “Number Nine” was hit by a missile fired from the Houthi-controlled area in Yemen, but despite the incurred damage, there were no casualties. CENTCOM announced the name of the third targeted ship as “Sophie 2,” which was flying the Panamanian flag and was traveling on an international route in the Red Sea, stating that it had not suffered significant damage. CENTCOM considered these attacks a “direct threat to international trade and maritime security” and stated that they endangered the lives of the crews of these ships from multiple countries. It also stated that, for this reason, the United States will consider all appropriate options to respond to this action. The Pentagon announced on Monday afternoon that it was aware of reports of an attack on the USS Carney and several other commercial ships in the Red Sea and would provide information on the matter. The Houthi group in Yemen also claimed on Monday that it had targeted two ships named “Unity Explorer” and “Number Nine,” which it described as “Israeli.” An hour later, an Israeli army spokesperson stated that the two targeted ships had no connection to Israel.Today, there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea. These three vessels are connected to 14 separate nations. The Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer USS CARNEY responded to the distress calls from the…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 3, 2023
Iranian Resistance Office in Berlin Targeted in Terror Attack
At 2:15 am on December 4, 2023, the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Berlin was targeted in an attack by terrorists affiliated with Iran’s regime, according to a statement by the NCRI. According to the statement, the attackers were linked to the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and they threw incendiary materials at the building, resulting in a fire on the exterior walls. The office personnel managed to extinguish the fire, and authorities, including firefighters and the police, arrived at the scene to launch an investigation.
This latest attack follows two similar incidents on May 31 and June 11, 2023, where terrorists and mercenaries associated with the IRGC Quds Force and the MOIS targeted a building belonging to NCRI supporters in northern Paris. In that attack, six gunshots and incendiary materials were employed.
The Iranian Resistance has consistently emphasized that appeasement with the mullahs’ regime emboldens the regime to further increase its terrorism abroad. Examples include the recent release of Assadollah Assadi, a terrorist diplomat responsible for organizing a bomb attack at the Iranian Resistance gathering in Villepinte, Paris in June 2018. Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court but was released in 2023 in exchange for the freedom of dual nationals held hostage by Iran’s regime.
The Iranian Resistance has urged the German government, police, and judiciary to arrest the perpetrators and masterminds of the attack, bring them to trial, and disclose all relevant details and documents to raise public awareness.
More Than 6,000 People Dead from Air Pollution in Tehran in 2021
Mehdi Pirhadi, the head of the Health, Environment, and Municipal Services Commission of the Tehran City Council, criticized regime officials for “concealing the burning of Mazut” in power plants. Pirhadi stated that in 2021, the number of deaths caused by air pollution in Tehran was 6,398.
On December 3, Mehdi Pirhadi said that some might want to deny the reality, but the Ministry of Oil did not adhere to fuel standards, and fuels were not supplied according to the national standard.
While Tehran experienced only three days of clean air last year, Iranian regime officials have consistently denied the burning of Mazut in Tehran province and other major cities in the country. However, according to a confidential report from the Ministry of Oil, an average of 25 million liters of high-sulfur Mazut, along with 110 million liters of diesel, were consumed daily in the country last year.
The daily consumption of Mazut and diesel in the country reached unprecedented figures of 43 million liters and 128 million liters, respectively, even during the past winter.
This official document from the Ministry of Oil also indicated that only 20% of the country’s produced gasoline meets Euro 4 and Euro 5 standards, and every day, nearly 10 million liters of chemicals, aromatics, and the highly dangerous substance MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether) are mixed with gasoline produced by refineries to compensate for its shortage and adulteration.
Referring to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, Pirhadi announced that in 2021, the cost of morbidity and mortality was $3.4 billion, and according to him, “this number will undoubtedly increase in 2022.”
Iran ranks sixth in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 900 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses annually.
Iran’s greenhouse gas emissions have doubled over the past two decades.
As the cold season and severe gas shortages began, severe air pollution due to widespread Mazut burning in the country resumed. Last week, two members of the Tehran City Council identified Mazut burning and non-standard diesel as causes of air pollution.
On November 28, Mehdi Chamran, the head of the Tehran City Council, also attributed the non-standard diesel used by trucks as one of the reasons for the capital’s air pollution. He stated that the level of pollution from this fuel in Iran is a hundred times higher than international standards.
According to official statistics from the Ministry of Energy, power plants in Tehran province generate 31,000 megawatts of electricity annually, with nearly 99% of it produced by thermal power plants operating with gas, Mazut, and diesel.
Both Pirhadi and Mehdi Chamran have stated that out of the 16 thermal power plants in Tehran, 14 of them use Mazut.
Sudeh Najafi, the head of the Health Committee of the Tehran Islamic Council, criticized the head of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization for his statement last week that he could not promise that Mazut burning in power plants would not take place. She accused him of not implementing the “Clean Air Law” and not fulfilling his responsibilities.
She also criticized the Tehran Municipality for its “poor performance” in terms of informing the public and claimed that “citizens” expect the Tehran city administration to solve the air pollution problem, while the main culprit is the Environmental Protection Organization.
Gas shortages in Iran are cited as one of the reasons for using Mazut in power plants, and BP, in its annual report on global energy statistics in July, announced that the consumption of polluting oil fuels in Iran had increased significantly in the past year.
This is happening while Iran holds the world’s second-largest gas reserves, but the Iranian regime does not prioritize public health.
Less Than 40% of Students Graduate With a Diploma in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan
Moein al-Din Saeedi, the member of regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed out to the problem of “student displacement” as one of the main reasons for the high rate of “educational dropout” among students in Sistan and Baluchestan (southeast Iran), stating that “less than approximately 40 out of every 100 students in this province succeed in obtaining a diploma.”
On December 1, Moein al-Din Saeedi told the regime’s ILNA news agency, “About ten percent of the students who drop out of school in the country are in Sistan and Baluchestan province, and it mostly affects girls.”
According to this Majlis member, “In fact, less than approximately 40 out of every 100 students in Sistan and Baluchestan succeed in obtaining a diploma.”
Saeedi further mentioned the problem of “student displacement” as one of the main reasons for the high rate of educational dropout in this province.
In the past few days, a video of student being transported with a trailer was circulated on social media, which some sources said was related to the students of Jakigor Middle School in Rask County, located in Sistan and Baluchestan.
This is not the first time that images of students being transported in dangerous conditions, especially with mini trucks and trucks, have been shared on social media.
In late November, reports emerged of a minibus carrying Baluch students overturning and catching fire in Qasr-e Qand County, resulting in the injury of some of the children.
Student displacement in Sistan and Baluchestan continues to occur despite the Director-General of Education in this province announcing on August 15 the allocation of 170 billion rials (approximately $336,000) to the “Central Village” plan and a 50 percent increase in funding for this plan by the Ministry of Education in the new academic year.
The “Central Village” plan started several years ago with the aim of relocating students from scattered villages to a central village with a school in some provinces. However, there have been criticisms of the successful implementation of this plan, including Moein al-Din Saeedi stating that “funds for this rural plan are sometimes not provided.”
Minibus carrying Baluch students overturned and caught fire in Qasr-e Qand County
Occasionally, reports are published about the problems and dangers faced by students in commuting to deprived areas. Ham-Mihan newspaper published a report in May about the problems of student transportation in the villages of Sistan and Baluchestan, stating, “Dirt and gravel roads are a threat to the lives of students. Some of them fall off the minitrucks on these routes, get soaked in rivers up to their necks, have encountered attacks by wild dogs and water snakes, Gando (the only crocodile native to Iran) and if they don’t find transportation, they ride on motorcycles and fuel carriers on the roadside and sit among drums of several hundred liters of gasoline.”
According to a report by the Majlis Research Center in the 2021-2022 academic year, more than 911,000 students in Iran dropped out of education. Sistan and Baluchestan province has had the worst situation in terms of “educational dropout” and “school dropouts” indicators.
According to this report, the dropout rate of students in the past academic year has increased by more than 17 percent compared to the 2015-2016 academic year, and reasons for this include “class and gender discrimination,” “cultural poverty,” and “limitations and deprivation.”
Iran’s Regime Executes PMOI Supporter and Protester
Simultaneously with the intensification of executions in Iran, Ali Saber Motlagh, a political prisoner from the 1980s, and Kamran Rezaei, one of the detainees of the 2019 protests, have been executed.
Mr. Saber Motlagh, who was 62 years old at the time of his execution, was arrested in the 1980s on charges of membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the assassination of an official in September 1981. After some time, he was released due to lack of evidence.
This former political prisoner went abroad after his release and returned to Iran in 2020. Upon his return, he was arrested again on charges of committing the same assassination and this time, despite the lack of evidence, he was sentenced to death.
The execution of this former political prisoner took place despite his consistent denial of any involvement or knowledge of the assassination of the regime’s official.
Since the beginning of 2023, which is within the span of 11 months, over 700 people have been executed in Iran.
In a statement on November 28, the UN Human Rights Office, , condemned the execution of Milad Zohrehvand, the “eighth executed 2022 protester,” and the execution of Hamidreza Azari, a 17-year-old juvenile offender, and called on the Iranian regime to immediately halt the implementation of the death penalty.
Execution of Kamran Rezaei, one of the detainees of the 2019 protests in Shiraz
Simultaneously with the increase in the number of executions in Iran, the death sentence of political prisoner Kamran Rezaei, arrested during the November 2019 protests, was carried out on November 30 in Adelabad Central Prison in Shiraz.
Kamran Rezaei was arrested during the nationwide protests in 2019 and was sentenced to capital punishment for “intentional murder” of a Basij paramilitary member.
He spent seven months in solitary confinement and was tortured to force him to confess against himself.
This detained protester of the 2019 protests has always emphasized his innocence.
Two days before the execution of Kamran Rezaei, another prisoner named Hani Shahbazi was executed in Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz (southwest Iran).
On the same day, the regime’s Tasnim News Agency announced the execution without mentioning the name of this prisoner. His charges were stated as “Moharebeh” or “enmity against God” following the deliberate killing of a law enforcement officer and a Basij member in Shadegan on December 3, 2019.
In recent days, some unofficial sources reported that Mr. Shahbazi was injured by government forces during his arrest and has been in prison for the past four years.
The lack of international response to these executions gives the Iranian regime a green light for further executions.
This regime is attempting to suppress the explosive conditions of Iranian society and economic protests by ramping up executions.
Iran: 4 Mojahedin Supporters Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
Zahra Safaei, Parastoo Moeini, Mohammad Masoud Moeini, and Kamran Rezaeifar, four political defendants, were each sentenced to five years of imprisonment by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Another defendant in this case, Teymour Rezaian, was fined 50 million tomans (approximately $1,000). Among these individuals, Zahra, Parastoo, and Mohammad Masoud are members of the same family.
According to the verdict issued by Iman Afshari, the head of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, which was communicated to the defendants on November 26, they have been convicted of “assembly and conspiracy to commit crimes against national security.” Their court session was held on November 18.
Iman Afshari used the content of their private conversations and activities on social media as evidence to substantiate these charges and claimed in the issued verdict that their cooperation and organizational connections with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (PMOI/MEK) focused on undermining national security and participating in opposition propaganda against the regime.
The court cited various pieces of evidence to support these allegations, including “reports from the intelligence forces of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as the case officer, the inferences of the interrogator during the interrogation phase, and the judicial conscience.”
These individuals were arrested by the intelligence forces of the Revolutionary Guards on September 13, on the eve of the first anniversary of the murder of Mahsa Amini. On October 11, after the end of interrogations, they were transferred from the IRGC detention center to Evin Prison.
During their arrest, authorities conducted searches of their homes and confiscated personal belongings such as laptops and mobile phones.
Zahra Safaei (Parastoo and Mohammad Masoud’s mother) was subjected to severe humiliation and derogation by the interrogators during the interrogation period, and the authorities had also connected her daughter, Parastoo, to a lie detector during the interrogations. They put pressure on them and other co-defendants to make confessions against each other.
Zahra Safaei is currently held in the women’s ward of Evin Prison, while her son, Masoud Moeini, along with Kamran Rezaeifar, another defendant in this case, are imprisoned in Ward 4 of Evin Prison. Parastoo Moeini, the daughter of Zahra Safaei, was released from prison some time ago, along with Teymour Rezaian, another defendant in this case, after depositing bail until the end of the judicial proceedings.
These individuals have previously been detained and endured imprisonment due to their political activities and support for the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization of Iran.
Parastoo Moeini was a student of electrical engineering at the International University of Qazvin and was expelled from the university after her release from prison in 2022.
