Iran Speaker Mired In Shopping Scandal Says People Face Hardship
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, who faces a scandal related to his family’s luxury shopping abroad, told the government that people face financial hardships.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, who faces a scandal related to his family’s luxury shopping abroad, told the government that people face financial hardships.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in a meeting with government representatives on Sunday said, “Rising prices in the country have become indefensible,” and “people face hardship.”
A scandal broke on April 20 when videos and images emerged that Ghalibaf’s wife and daughter visited Turkey and allegedly bought luxury items for the baby his daughter expects. His son and chief aide tried to smooth things over by apologizing but the Speaker remained silent.
A journalist also made a more serious allegation that the family bought two luxury apartments while in Istanbul for $1.6 million.
Many politicians and ordinary Iranians have criticized Ghalibaf, some even calling for his resignation as he and other top officials constantly speak of ‘resistance economy’ and people’s resilience in the face of United States’ sanctions, but their families take foreign trips for shopping.
The scandal has also revealed a rift among ‘revolutionary’ hardliners or “principlists” as some like to call themselves. Reports in the media say that ultra-hardliners in the parliament representing the Paydari group may have even been involved in exposing the Ghalibaf family’s trip to Turkey.
Vahid Ashtari, a journalist who first revealed the scandal, is considered a “principlist” who say they campaign for justice.
But other hardliners have come to Ghalibaf’s defense, attacking his critics. One hardliner quipped that “The enemy has planned to weaken unity among government institutions,” a reference that conservatives and hardliners control both the presidency and the legislature. He added that “The revolutionary forces are more alert than to be deceived by these kinds of conspiracies.”
Mohammad Aghamiri, another hardliner, tried to defend Ghalibaf by saying that his family went to Turkey “with four bags and returned with five,” while Ashtari insists he has evidence the family returned with more than 20 pieces of luggage.
Aghamiri went on to say that there is nothing wrong with a young enthusiastic couple travelling to Turkey “and buying a few things that were on sale.”
However, critics ask how Ghalibaf’s family can afford a foreign trip and luxury shopping when the Iranian currency has substantially dropped, and many people do not have enough food to eat.
Ghalibaf has been involved in numerous financial corruption cases over the years, especially during his tenure as Tehran mayor from 2005-2017. As a former Revolutionary Guard general, in many of his corruption cases there is a thread connecting to other high ranking IRGC figures, including Qasem Soleimani, the Qods Force commander killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
Fars news agency affiliated with the IRGC attacked Vahid Ashtari and others who have exposed and pursued Ghalibaf’s scandal. “Psychologists believe that an identity crisis and an urge to be noticed…” leads to “deviations”, it said.
The ultra-hardliner Kayhan newspaper financed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the scandal is the creation of “anti-revolutionaries abroad”, reformists and “deviant forces”, an indirect reference to followers of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Paydari group in parliament is made up of mostly former Ahmadinejad officials, although the former president has not spoken about the scandal.
Some lawmakers have also insisted that the revelations about Ghalibaf are a “political and security project” aimed at damaging his reputation and political standing.
Ashtari has responded on Twitter, telling Ghalibaf’s supporters to end duplicity in their lives “and everything will be solved.”
An Iranian journalist living in Turkey, Amirhossein Miresmaili, tweeted on April 21 that speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s wife, daughter and sone-in-law who had gone shopping in Istanbul bought two luxury apartments in a famous complex for a total price of 400 billion Iranian rials or $1.6 million.
Miresmaili told Iran International that three days after he revealed the real estate purchase, the Ghalibaf’s have not denied the report, although another journalist residing in Iran has repeated the allegation. He insisted that Iranians in Turkey had seen the family at the Sky Land high rises in Istanbul and the apartments were bought in someone else’s name.
The Ghalibaf family scandal broke when videos emerged that they were having arguments in Istanbul airport for overweight luggage, and it became clear that they had bought luxury items for a baby on the way for Ghalibaf’s daughter. Later a journalist in Iran who had first exposed the shopping trip said that Ghalibafs had returned with more than 20 pieces of luggage.
The parliament speaker’s son and assistant went into damage control mode, expressing regret and Fars news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard tried to deny the shopping trip, but no one believed the denial and the attempt soon died down. Calls for Ghaliaf’s resignation rang out loud in Tehran, but the final arbiter of such issues, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has remained silent.
Ghalibaf has been involved in numerous financial corruption cases, especially during his tenure as Tehran mayor from 2005-2017. As a former Revolutionary Guard general, in many of his corruption cases there is a thread to other high ranking IRGC figures, including Qasem Soleimani, killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
Iran is in a four-day religious holiday and newspapers are not published while politicians and most journalist enjoy the free time probably on the Caspian seashore, far away from the capital. To what extent the apartment shopping allegation will gain traction once the holiday is over, is hard to say, but serious damage has been done to both Ghalibaf and the domestic image of the Islamic Republic, already mired by numerous previous cases of corruption and embezzlement by top officials and regime insiders.
One of the interesting public debates that ensued after the news about Ghalibaf’s scandal was a view expressed by political commentator Sadeq Zibakalam, a former revolutionary turned regime critic, who said luxury shopping abroad is not a crime in itself and many Iranians aspire to live a better life. The issue he said is with whose money such adventures are financed. Nevertheless, many on social media criticized Zibakalam for apparently defending Ghalibaf, which he subsequently denied, saying he simply did not want to kick him while he was down.
But apparently there are others who would not hesitate to stab Ghalibaf while he is wounded. Soon there will be a vote to elect a new parliament speaker and ‘revolutionary’ hardliners would be happy to steal the seat from Ghalibaf.