By Pooya Stone
While numerous Iranian officials and institutions have been defendants in court over huge corruption cases, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized in a speech on 11 November 2019 in Yazd, the lack of inspection and dealing with the individuals and institutions involved with these cases.
Without mentioning anyone by name, Rouhani attacked people close to Iran’s supreme leader with the expression “Big Players” in the infighting which is running daily in this regime.
In the past six years, many corruption cases have been revealed of members of the former and current Iranian governments, while some of them have led to the arrest of people close to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who served as the sixth President of Iran and the brother of the current President Hassan Rouhani. But the judiciary which is close to the supreme leader has not acted.
Rouhani also said at a cabinet meeting earlier in November, “Tomorrow I will say who shut down the country.” He further threatened in Yazd that if they did not explain what happened to the money and where it had gone, he would “announce these numbers fact by fact in different provinces.”
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) which has the main role in most of the corruption in Iran, and which has captured Iran’s economy, is not accountable to anyone. This organization is acting under the direct control of Iran’s supreme leader.
In previous years, the US has criticized the corruption of the Iranian officials and announced them as the main cause of all of Iran’s economic problems. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said in a tweet that Iranian officials are involved with corruption instead of helping the people.
Iran’s Rulers Mired in Corruptionhttps://t.co/O3PvAUmPbN#Iran #IranRegimeChange pic.twitter.com/DdvwGIRtXL
— Iran Focus (@Iran_Focus) August 27, 2019
The question here is why is Rouhani attacking the other faction – is that not a game to entertain the people?
The answer is No. The truth is that the problems of the Iranian government are increasing, especially after the increase of the sanctions. The government’s coffers are empty because this government is investing a vast amount of money in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
And as the events in the past days in Iraq show, this government is paddling to control the situation in Iraq. For that, this government needs money – money which belongs to the Iranian people.
The result is that Rouhani is forced to confess about the corruption in front of the people in the hope of decreasing the just demands of the people and preventing any potential uprisings.
But this would be at the expense of the Iranian government, because the reality is that no factions exist in this government, and they are all the united in their embezzlement of national funds. Most of the people live under the poverty line, and the result of such confessions is more discontent by the people.
