Media Charge 'Managerial Genocide' At Iran Labor Ministry

Gholam Ali Rajaei, also an academic at the University of Tehran, has charged in a February 12 interview published by Rouydad24 website that some of Raisi's aides and cabinet ministers lack executive experience even at middle-management level to occupy posts in any government.

Rajaei said that Iranians are now disillusioned and desperate and have lost their confidence in the government as Iran’s economic crisis gas seriously lowered their living standards.

Similar warnings have multiplied since late 2021 as Iran’s annual inflation hovers around 40 percent and the middle class becomes impoverished.

Meanwhile, Rajai suggested that Raisi should fire his ministers of economy, labor, and industry at once as they are responsible for the administration's most significant weaknesses.

Zaynab Ghabishawi, one of the website's editors added that economic problems, lack of a roadmap, and the performance of incapable managers are to be blamed for the government's inefficiency. Rajaei added to the journalist's comment that most of Raisi's aides and cabinet ministers have never worked even at the level of director generals before being appointed as ministers. He also noted that Raisi himself has spent his entire career in the Judiciary and has no executive experience.

The academic added that although some of Iran's problems have their root in the performance of the previous government, not only the current administration has not been able to improve the situation in the past six months, but it has become worse. "When is the Raisi administration going to launch the plans he was talking about during his election campaign?" Rajai asked.

Rajaei's opinion is corroborated with criticisms made by other observers. The head of Iran's Consumer Support Organization, a price watchdog based in Tehran, told Aftab News website on Sunday that prices of 84 thousand goods in the Iranian market have risen by 120 percent during the past months.

Even some of Raisi's ministers are unhappy about rising prices. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state television on Saturday that "rising prices in Iran follow no particular logic. Price rises are normally an outcome of scarcity, but prices in Iran rise while there are plenty of goods in the markets."

Vahidi seemed to ignore the rising cost of production as a result of sanctions and other economic factors. He also ignored the fact that the rise in commodity prices inevitably lead to inflation for a range of goods.

The government's solution for the problem is returning to the 1990s punitive regulations that call for the punishment of traders and businesses rather than addressing the root cause of the problem.

Iranian lawmakers have repeatedly called for the impeachment of the same economic ministers Rajaei has mentioned in his interview but knowing that it does not have a true plan to address the problem even if ministers are replaced, the government has been exerting pressure on the parliament to shelve the petitions for impeachment.

Referring to Raisi's much-criticized habit of issuing orders without following them up, Rajaei warned him that "It is time for action, not to issue orders!"

In an open letter, 105 academics, mostly from American universities said that recent layoffs of professors from Iranian universities were political in nature and cannot be justified on scientific or professional grounds.

The letter followed news in January that at least three professors were fired from their jobs. Sociologist Mohammad Fazeli, professor of philosophy Arash Abazari and social science lecturer Reza Omidi got the pink slip without a clear explanation. Each had excelled in their field. Abazari is well-known for his book Hegel's Ontology of Power: The Structure of Social Domination in Capitalism, which was published by Cambridge University Press. Fazeli’s works focus on sociology of politics and science, especially in the energy sector.

On Saturday, news emerged that Islamic Azad University in Iran has fired more than 300 professors and lecturers and is planning to fire 1,500 more from its campuses around the country. It is not clear whether this is related to financial pressure amid Iran’s economic crisis or a way to politically “cleanse” the academia.

The academics residing outside Iran said in their letter that based on the academic credentials of the professors in Iran, “it is clear that the firings cannot be justified.” The quality of their scientific research was not the reason for the decisions. The policy to fire professors is the result of “intolerance and lack of respect for academic freedom.”

The letter demanded the “unconditional return” of the professors to their posts, so that they can continue to serve the society and their students.

Among the academics who signed the letter there are Professors of Emeritus from Yale University (Abbas Amanat), Pace University (Reza Afshari), City University of New York (Ervand Abrahamian), Bennington College (Mansour Farhang) and many others.

Other academics of Iranian descent from the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Sweden Holland, Switzerland and other countries have also signed the open letter.

The letter does not name any of the professors fired in Iran, not to endanger their security. The Islamic Republic will probably retaliate against them if their name comes up in a context of criticizing the clerical government. Universities in Iran are controlled by the government and decisions to fire professors are suggested or approved by bureaucrats.

Dr Kazem Alamdari of California State University, Northridge told Center for Human Rights in Iran that “We did not want to endanger the professors in Iran, but we wanted to speak out about this, because we believe that putting authorities under the pressure of public opinion is most impactful approach.”

The 50-minute audio-file includes a conversation between the former Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Mohammad-Ali Jafari and his Economic Affairs Deputy Sadegh Zolghadr in 2018 about corruption involving IRGC's Qods Force and Tehran municipality and Ghalibaf, a former IRGC commander himself, who was Mayor of Tehran from 2005-2017. The corrupt dealing took place during Ghalibaf’s tenure as mayor.

The audio recording was published by Radio Farda, the Persian service of US-funded Radio Free Europe, on Thursday.

Some Iranian media have only cautiously reported the comments made by a member of the Parliament's National Security Committee, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh, and tweets by Ghalibaf's media advisor, Mohammad-Saeed Ahadian, both of whom tried to undermine the importance of the audio recording and its contents. The social media, however, is abuzz with hundreds of tweets about the leaked file the authenticity of which has far not been contested by anyone.

Abbaszadeh said Saturday that the publication of the recording was "enemy's psychological war" and warned about "infiltration" in the IRGC which resulted in the publication of the audio file. "We should admit that there is infiltration and that's a sad reality."

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Ahadian, on the other hand, in several tweets claimed that the recording was leaked by Ghalibaf's enemies, he had been proven to be innocent by the Judiciary, and criticized hardliners close to former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili who are known as the Justice Seekers (Edalatkhah) of using the recording to attack Ghalibaf.

The discussion in the recording directly involves Ghalibaf, former Qods Force Commander Ghasem Soleimani, IRGC Coordination Deputy Jamaloddin Aberoumand, and Chief of the IRGC Intelligence Organization Hossein Taeb in covering up the embezzlement of 80,000 billion rials (around $3 billion at the time) between Tehran municipality and a firm controlled by the IRGC.

In the recording, Zolghadr tells Jafari that Ghalibaf suggested the IRGC and Tehran Municipality sign a false contract for the same amount to justify the disappearance of the money. "I told him [Ghalibaf[ that this would be a crime," Zolghadr says in the recording, claiming that Ghalibaf met him at a mosque near his house and demanded that he sign the memorandum but he did not agree. "It will harm me, it will harm Jafari, I will not sign it," he tells his boss in the recording.

Jafari tells Zolghadr that Soleimani who was well aware of the corruption, which prevented the funds from reaching the Qods Force, spoke to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about it. In the recording Zolghadr says Khamenei had ordered 90 percent of the money earned by Yas Holding to be used to finance Qods Force and the remaining 10 percent to go to the IRGC for its general needs. He also says Taeb who has close ties to Khamenei's office and his son Mojtaba supports Ghalibaf in the matter.

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Taeb has been accused of corruption in the past and is part of an inner circle of war veterans who served with Mojtaba Khamenei and have an influential network.

The money was mainly intended for funding the activities of Qods Force but somehow disappeared in the dealings between the municipality and Yas Holding, a subsidiary of IRGC's Cooperatives Foundation active in services, dealership, and subcontracting in the housing sector.

Yas Holding was officially dissolved in 2018, two years after its establishment, following the arrest of some of its officials. Four of the accused, including Ghalibaf's deputy in Tehran municipality, Isa Sharif, were put on trial and were sentenced to long prison terms and returning some of the huge sums they had embezzled.

Although the speech was about the political ideas of 10th century philosopher Avicenna, Larijani's speech was full of modern political jargon including job creation, economic development, political participation and competitiveness. As Iranian journalist Amir Reza Nazari of Mostaghel daily wrote in a tweetin an apparent analogy with the current Iranian government, "Larijani warned that the continuation of the current situati

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on in Iran will lead to the decline and collapse of the regime."

Larijani and other candidates were barred from running in last June’s presidential election, ensuring the election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi. At the time many predicted the end of “the end of the Larijani era.”

In the speech posted on Larijani's official Telegram channel, he said "The theory of the Islamic revolution was based on rationality and Islamic philosophy, but gradually the Islamic Republic became a populist government."

Larijani made frequent analogies between Avicenna's theory of governance and the current clerical political system. Quoting Avicenna, Larijani said that "a desirable government is one that can create jobs for citizens." Explaining how human societies fail, Larijani added that "only a lawful government that respects the law will not face collapse. In such a government, there is solidarity among citizens and the government operates based on rationality."

He explained that collapse takes place within societies. "It is not foreign invasion that destroys societies. A foreign invasion always takes advantage of flaws within the system." Larijani said in another part of his speech that "Governments that are too strict or too negligent lead to corruption and chaos in society. If leaders cannot convince citizens, then they will not trust the government and the society will collapse."

According to Rouydad24 news website, political observers interpret the appearance as a signal that Larijani wishes to take the lead in the revival of Iran's moderate and reform camp. The website added that the speech was part of Larijani's political manifesto.

As part of his new vision for a political society based on Avicenna's theory, Larijani said that "There should be political participation [in Iran] and economic activities should be based on competition." Meanwhile he stressed that "The existence of a middle class is necessary for restoration of justice in every society." Economists in Iran have recently accused hardliners of destroying the country's middle class and bringing the elites face to face with the underprivileged working class in a hostile confrontation.

According to Rouydad24, a figurehead has been missing in the reform and moderation camp in Iran following the death of Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Larijani is now trying to fill the political vacuum left by the pragmatist figurehead.

Larijani's background as the son of a grand ayatollah, a former IRGC officer, a man who has studied pure mathematics and philosophy in the United States and Iran and a career politician who made sure of parliamentary approval for the 2015 nuclear deal, makes him an ideal candidate for the position. Those who are considered reformists and moderates would welcome the appearance of a leader after being repeatedly locked out of the political system by hardliners since 2020.

His weak point, however, is the involvement of his brothers in lang grabs and financial corruption which was revealed by Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the very parliament Ali Larijani chaired in the 2010s.

Rouydad24 website also said that Larijani's reference to how the political system might collapse is a serious warning to Iranian leaders, who have lost popular trust.

“We estimate based on our evaluations that we need to remove around 1,000 individuals,” he told the official news agency (IRNA). “So far 350 of them have been removed or replaced but this will take time.” The minister suggested the ministry was top heavy in noting that there were 2,000 people “at the rank of director general and above in this organization.”

Abdolmaleki said that the administration of President Hasan Rouhani had hired people in the ministry with “connections to the media” and on the basis of their politics rather than qualifications.

The minister told Iran newspaper that security forces had supplied him with the names of over 100 journalists and social-media activists given jobs in entities under the ministry's control as board members or executive managers. He told the newspaper these included some found guilty by courts over the 2009 “sedition" – unrest following the disputed presidential re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – while others had been involved with a parliamentary ‘sit in’ by reformist deputies after the disqualification of around 4,000 candidates by the Guardian Council in the 2004 parliamentary election.

Abdolmaleki, who served as an economic adviser to Ahmadinejad when president, said those removed would inevitably stir up media controversy. "One of our investigations revealed the corruption of 92 percent of those who were in in managerial and higher positions," he said, adding that 120 cases had been prepared for the judiciary.

Hardliner media often refer to the populist Abdolmaleki, an alumni of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Imam Sadegh University, as a "theoretician of resistance economy" and "expert in Islamic economy".

Abdolmaleki has proved a controversial minister. On January 15, the parliament’s presidium for the second time in less than a month blocked a motion to impeach him, brought from within the conservative camp that generally backs the Raisi administration. Lawmakers behind the two motions accused him of giving top jobs to political allies, mis-using ministry resources, and failing to deliver on promises of creating jobs.

State broadcaster IRIB has confirmed that Abdolmaleki allocated ministry money to a program on its Channel 3. The issue had been raised by parliament member Ahmad Alirezabeigi and some media outlets, who said this had come about after the minister had been invited to speak on the program several times.

There have been rumors of the Raisi administration intending to purge non-hardliners from government jobs. Last month, three university professors were fired for no real cause.