Can Iran Survive Yet Another 'Economic Surgery', Media Ask

According to IRNA on Sunday, the National Security Council as well as the provincial and city security councils are also excluded from the plan that is expected to obligate members of parliament and state officials to make their votes and decisions available to the public. The details of the negotiations in various parliamentary committees will also be available to the public.

The parliament also makes the publication of final rulings of the general and revolutionary courts conditional upon "observance of security standards".

Moreover, the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts are not included in the plan in the first place. 

However, according to the bill, all private institutions in charge of public services, including Iran Central Bar Association, Medical Council of the Islamic Republic, and Justice Experts' Association, as well as non-governmental organizations and charities will be included in the transparency plan and will be fined for non-compliance.

The measure also makes it mandatory for the entities as well as municipalities of cities with over one million population to register and regularly update data about their financial statements, budgetary performance, project investments, and number of employees.

According to the annual ranking of countries released by Transparency International earlier this year, Iran ranks 150 out of 180 countries in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index.

The official news agency IRNA reported on Saturday, May 21, that “Hundreds of experts and businessmen took part in the gathering” the agency called “the first international privatization event in Iran.”

Speaking at the event, Raisi did not mention last week’s protests or the security forces violent treatment of protesters particularly in Iran’s western provinces. However, as economic journalist Maryam Shokrani has observed, he emphasized “hard decisions to be made which some people may not agree with.”

Raisi also focused on the controversial issue of privatization in Iran and opined that “Privatization does not mean abandoning industrial units. It is the beginning of the government’s supervision on privatized companies.”

The Islamic Republic’s government, religious institutions and the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) directly or indirectly own 80 percent of the economy, amid nepotism and corruption which has led to paralyzing mismanagement.

For the past 15 years successive governments have talked about privatization, but with a fearsome security apparatus and with power concentrated in the hands of insiders, only they have been able to benefit from the sell-off of government assets.

During the past years, hundreds of workers of privatized companies, particularly in Khuzestan and in the Central Province, protested to the privatization process that has handed over many government companies to well-connected but often disinterested and non-expert individuals who only used the assets to take hefty loans from government banks with no intention to pay back.

Many of these companies including the Sugar Mill at Haft Tappeh and the Heavy Equipment Factory in Arak which used to be profitable in the past, are currently on the verge of bankruptcy according to their workers.

Post-revolution privatization during the past four decades has been criticized by the people, workers and businesses alike. Many believe that profitable businesses have been handed over to the IRGC which effectively owns the lion’s share of productive companies in Iran.

While Raisi said on Saturday that privatization empowers the private sector, many have often charged that the IRGC’s acquisition of companies has left little room for the private sector in Iran.

However, Raisi called for looking back and reviewing the privatization process that has taken place. He said, “fair and critical review of the past is essential and inevitable,” so that lessons could be learned, and corruption could be prevented.

Raisi spoke about motivating “non-government businesses” while the government’s intervention in the market has led to an increase in the price of essential commodities and inflation in Iran that led to protests, during which people called on Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to step down and chanted slogan in favor of a secular government.

In an interview published by Didban Iran website, Iranian sociologist Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar warned that the current economic situation, particularly the policy and eliminating food and fuel subsidies has already led to social problems such as an increase in crime including stealing food.

He said the protests last week raised the alarm for the statesmen that Iranian society is being divided into a majority of extremely poor people and a minority of super-rich individuals. Mahboobfar warned that what has been characterized by government officials as an “economic surgery” should be stopped at once as the widening gap between socio-economic classes has become cause for concern.

Mahboobfar warned: “Making the masses apprehensive is dangerous.”

The ministry’s public relations manager Mohsen Motamedkia denied the news that the ministry takes collateral from athletes for foreign travel in a tweet on Friday, saying he enquired about the issue and the ministry’s authorities denied the claims.

He made the remarks in reaction to a post by sport journalist Hiva Yousefi, who had publicized the issue on twitter.

Replying to the journalist, a member of Iran’s national rowing team, Ahmad Ahmadi, said the property must be at least 5 billion rials (about $20,000) and owned by the athlete or a family member, adding that if the athlete does not return to the country, it will be transferred to the relevant sport federation's treasury.

Ahmadi said a notarized pledge to transfer the property is signed before the trip, adding that the federation also gets two guarantee-of-return undated checks of about $500 and $1,000 from the athletes.

Earlier in the month, Yekta Jamali, the first Iranian female weightlifter who won medals in international tournaments, sought asylum in Germany after she left Iran’s team at the World Junior Weightlifting Championship in Greece.

About 30 Iranian athletes in recent years have defected from national teams and sought asylum in other countries, due to alleged threats and corruption in sports federations as well as Iran’s policy of not allowing athletes to compete against Israeli peers. For women mandatory hijab is also an issue.

State propaganda organizations and the ministry of education have been promoting ‘Hello Commander’ in schools since it was broadcast from state television for the first time this year after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s Iranian New Year speech on March 20.

Teaching the song to children has apparently become compulsory in schools. In the past two months it has been performed at huge gatherings of school children in city squares and stadiums and broadcast by the state television (IRIB) in news and other programs.

‘Hello Commander’ is a song dedicated to Mahdi, the 12th Imam of Shiites who has been in occultation since the 9th century according to believers. The song and its promotion are unusual as the music is in the often frowned upon pop genre which has no place on Iran’s state media.

“Me, the little me, will become your general,” children sing to the Imam, promising him to rise up, to sacrifice everything to him, and to become his Ghasem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guard’s Qods Force commander who was killed by the United States in Baghdad in 2020.

The song also mentions 313, the number of the Imam’s helpers when he returns to earth, and is full of words such as “soldier, general, commander, and “uprising” as well as other religious terminology and notions.

‘Hello Commander’ also mentions Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who is believed by his devotees to be the Imam’s representative on earth and has to be obeyed as the Imam would be if he were present among believers. “Hello Commander! Sayyid Ali [Khamenei] has called his children [to mobilize]!” children sing.

The education ministry is now planning a 100,000-strong gathering at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium to perform the song at a special ceremony next Thursday (May 26) although a football match this week at the same stadium was held with no spectators “to prevent the spread of Covid.” Many alleged that the decision to hold the match without spectators was a measure against eruption of an anti-government protest during or after the match

The promotion of the song by the state media is meant to indoctrinate children and brainwash them, critics allege. They also say the promotion of the song by state media and the Islamic Republic’s propaganda organizations is reminiscent of Nazi propaganda methods which included teaching children and the youth songs in praise of the Führer.

Many social media users have seen the song as propaganda for Khamenei as the Imam’s deputy, and commander-in-chief of Iran’s Armed Forces, and drawn a parallel between him and Hitler by sharing a video of Nazi Youth gatherings with the original audio replaced with ‘Hello Commander’.

“In his last years, like all other dictators, Hitler resorted to performance of a ‘Hello Commander’ song in schools to reassure his supporters but this didn’t save him from defeat because it was too late,” one of the many such tweets by critics said.

London-based Iranian journalist Morteza Kazemian also shared photos of Nazi Germany’s huge gatherings in Hitler’s support on Twitter with the ‘Hello Commander’ hashtag and said dictators are destined to fall, even if they are as powerful as Hitler.

Photos of the party show Hamid Estili beside Mahmoud Khazein, who is sought by the FBI in relation to a plot to kidnap international targets, including three people in Canada, CBC News reported on Saturday.

The event was a birthday party in Tehran on April 8, almost a year since a warrant had been out for the arrest of the alleged Iranian intelligence informant.

According to the FBI list, Khazein is facing criminal charges in the United States, including conspiracy to kidnap; conspiracy to violate the international emergency economic powers act; conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

One of the alleged targets of the kidnapping plot was journalist and rights activist Masih Alinejad, who told CBC News that the FBI is now looking into a possible connection between Estili and Khazein.

"I want the Canadian police to consider that as well … Sports federations are being controlled by members of the Revolutionary Guards. Would you allow anyone associated with the kidnappers to come to Canada to enjoy freedom?” she said.

Iran's soccer team, known by its nickname Team Melli, is headed to Vancouver for an exhibition game on June 5 despite objections by those who lost loved ones in Iran’s downing of Flight PS752 in 2020.