Iran Government Paper Reveals Details Of US Envoy's Suspension
Suspicions of leaked classified information are reaching crisis point as an Iranian media outlet reveals more details about the investigation of US Iran envoy.
Suspicions of leaked classified information are reaching crisis point as an Iranian media outlet reveals more details about the investigation of US Iran envoy.
CBS News has also confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating Robert Malley, but the issue is not deemed a criminal matter.
However, a detailed report in Tehran Times about Malley's suspension and investigation has raised questions among former American officials and Iran watchers.
As presidential envoy for Iran, Malley was based at the State Department, his portfolio including both the attempts to resurrect a nuclear agreement with Iran (under the JCPOA), as well as negotiations over at least three American citizens who remain wrongfully detained by Tehran.
His suspension was first reported by Iran International June 29 and formally announced the following day by Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the US State Department, calling it "a leave of absence”, adding that his duties would be temporarily assumed by his deputy, Abram Paley. However, it is believed he had been suspended as early as April.
According to the Tehran Times, a pro-regime publication, the exact date of Malley's suspension was April 21, when Malley was informed by the Diplomatic Security Department that due to his not having maintained classified documents, his security clearance was suspended.
The regime publication wrote: “His work-related accesses were cut off at this time. However, to prevent the matter from becoming public, some of his limited and non-critical accesses were maintained, such as his communication with the families of American prisoners in Iran.”
How a pro-regime outlet had such details, of which even Congress had not be informed, is raising serious questions. Frustrated by the lack of information sharing with the congressional committees overseeing the State Department, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul, Republican of Texas, sent a letter setting a July 11 deadline for the department to provide an update.
His letter claimed Congress had been misled about the reason for Malley's absence, which had been attributed to a family health matter. State Department spokesman Miller said in response: “We obviously got the letter from the Chairman; we've been reviewing it and we will be engaging with his office on the matter.”
The Tehran Times went into further detail, claiming that during the first few weeks of Malley’s unpaid leave, when Iran and the US held confidential negotiations in Oman, the US sent Brett McGurk, a member of the National Security Council who is close to Jake Sullivan. “The noteworthy point is that the Americans are trying to present the replacement of McGurk as a positive change and an effort to advance negotiations with Iran, hiding the Malley affair,” they wrote.
Ex-Iran envoy Gabriel Noronha pointed to the article as a worrying sign that sources in Tehran know more about the scandalous affair than Congress itself. Like many other Iran watchers, he highlights the closeness Malley has with key members of the regime. “His family's ties to notorious Iranian propagandists like Trita Parsi should be disqualifying in themselves,” he wrote.
Malley’s suspension has been of grave concern to the Biden administration, risking a controversy at a time which is critical to nuclear negotiations as Iran's uranium enrichment proceeds unhindered.
Alireza Nader from the National Union for Democracy in Iran said the matter risks becoming “a huge national scandal”, the Iran lobby possibly jeopardizing talks moving forward.
The Tehran Times article suggests the future of Malley’s career is bleak, revealing the depth of his connections to the regime: “Malley’s overly close proximity to his non-official Iranian assistants and advisers created the ground for the fall of this experienced diplomat.”
Ayatollah Alamolhoda -- the Friday Imam of Mashhad, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's representative in the city and the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi -- has been pocketing large sums of money from the Goharshad endowment without any real responsibility or duties.
As part of the decree that gives the charitable foundation to Alamolhoda, he can have 10 percent of its total income as his personal salary, while another 10 percent provides the salaries of all the other staff who work there.
The revelations were made by Vahid Ashtari, known for revealing corruption among Iran’s senior officials. He published a thread of tweets on Monday with details about one of the biggest financial endowments of the country, Goharshad, ironically meaning Happy Jewel in English, which was handed over to senior firebrand cleric Alamolhoda six years ago.
The Goharshad endowment has more than 1,000 hectares of land in Mashhad and more than 5,700 lots of land and real estates in the city of Chenaran, about 45 km (about 27.96 mi) west of the city. However, 5,700 is only the number of the lots that have separate documents while the real number is nearly 26,000 (25,825) pieces of property, including agricultural and animal farms.
In Iran, such endowments are like holding companies with several cultural, educational and healthcare institutes as well as other affiliated companies working in horticulture and construction. A report by IRNA in 2019, cited a deputy of the Endowment Organization of Khorasan Razavi province as saying that Goharshad is the most profitable charitable organization in the province.
Granting the guardianship of such a colossal entity to Alamolhoda was controversial in the first place, but new details have caused further outrage among Iranians.
Not surprisingly, Alamolhoda has done what most of the influential regime insiders do with such opportunities. He asked the managerial board of the foundation to give him the 10-percent cut but he relinquished all decision-making and responsibilities to the province’s Endowment Organization.
Ashtari is a member of Edalat Khahan (Justice Seekers), a political group of mainly of young conservatives and university students who are loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and are also close to former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili who ran against Raisi. In April 2022, his revelations sparked the Layette-gate scandal that led to calls for the resignation of Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and resurfacing of other alleged corruption cases against his family.
In June, Ashtari revealed in a series of tweets that a 150-hectare piece of land endowed by a local family in Qazvin including a farm with 1,000 cattle has been rented out at a monthly rent of 10m rials (around $20 at current exchange rates) to Mona Chaychian, the daughter-in-law of the head of the State Endowment Organization Mehdi Khamoushi, another Khamenei appointee.
Ashtari who dubbed the case as “Daughter-in-Law Favoritism in Endowment Organization” pointed out in his tweets that young couples are unable to rent a basement in the outskirts of the city of Qazvin with the same amount of money as a point of comparison. “The Endowments [Organization has officially turned into the back yard of corruption [-mongers],” he wrote.
The Organization has confirmed the deal but claimed that Khamoushi was not involved in it and threatened to sue the whistle-blower.
In the case of the parliament speaker, Ashtari revealed that Ghalibaf’s wife, daughter and son-in-law had returned from Turkey with massive extra luggage including a baby bed and stroller that formed part of the layette for his yet unborn grandchild. All this as Iranians have to pay hefty prices for imported goods and tens of million are now considered to have sunk into poverty.
Critics accused Ghalibaf of hypocrisy for his admonishing others for luxury and telling Iranians they should support domestically made products.
Ashtari has been sentenced to two years in prison and banned from media and social media activity for his role in what has been dubbed “Layette Gate”. It is believed he has appealed the sentence.
According to the annual list released by Transparency International in January, Iran ranks 150 out of 180 countries in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), one stop lower than the previous year.
The regime authorities routinely criticize corruption in the country, with Khamenei having issued an anti-corruption decree, demanding the heads of the three branches of government not slacken in efforts against graft. All this while it is Khamenei's own inner circle which has become most notorious for its own corruption.