Iran Says Complaint Process Against US For Soleimani's Killing Initiated

In a report on Khabar Online website, Iranian academic Mohammad Hossein Gharib suggested that the largest corruption cases in Iran have occurred after 2005 when populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first came to power. Ahmadinejad brought with him individuals, who quickly proved adept at using their government positions to get rich.

These cases include a $6 billion corruption case resulting from Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani's efforts to help the government bypass international sanctions and sell Iran's oil in in the international markets. A $7.2 billion case at the Iranian Insurance Company, a $5.3 billion embezzlement case at the Iranian Teachers' Pension Fund, and a one-billion-dollar embezzlement case about financial irregularities in importing poultry feed. All of these occurred when the rate of exchange for US dollar was around 30,000 rials per dollar.

The most recent case, amounting to $3.7 billion, was even larger considering the exchange rate at the time was over 500,000 rials per dollar. The report attributed this corruption to a centralized government economy, attempts to circumvent sanctions, the government's granting of concessions to its loyalists, and the traditional practice of nepotism.

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Former lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told local media on Saturday that at least $57 billion has been embezzled by government officials and operatives in the past two decades.

A report on Faraz daily website, investigated the role of former Agriculture Minister Javad Sadatinejad in the Debsh Tea corruption case, while describing the case as the tip of the iceberg of financial corruption in the government of President Ebrahim Raisi. However, the website added that Raisi has tried to blame the previous government under President Hassan Rouhani and the Iranian Judiciary for the case.

According to the report, Raisi claimed that his government had detected and stopped the embezzlement, leading to the firing of around 60 managers whose cases were sent to the Judiciary. However, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei later contradicted this claim, stating that the government had not implicated anyone in the case.

The report also revealed that the Judiciary was the entity that initially exposed the corruption case, and Ejei disclosed that Sadatinejad had been forced to resign when signs of financial corruption became public. Ejei further revealed that despite ongoing corruption since 2019, additional funds were channelled to the Debsh Tea company by the government as recently as 2022, with Vice President Mokhber implicated in media reports as the facilitator. The report suggested that Mokhber may have tipped off Sadatinejad to resign.

Meanwhile, centrist Aftab News quoted Farshid Mohebbi, the managing director of the Union of Tea Planters in northern Iran as saying that the Iranian state TV pulled him off the air when he started to say that even the tea served at Iranian government offices is imported because the government does not wish to support domestic producers.

He revealed that Debsh Tea Company, mixed outdated Iranian tea with imported foreign tea and exported the blend to countries such as Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Russia although its officials knew that their product was carcinogenic.

Air defense systems destroyed nine Iran-made attack drones over Odesa, the region’s Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app, calling it the third Russian air assault on the region in the past week.

Russia has been launching swarms of Iranian drones against infrastructure and civilian targets in Ukraine since October 2022. The drones are also used during missile attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. Western countries have sanctioned dozens of individuals and entities involved in the supply of the kamikaze weapons.

"However, one of the downed drones fell into a residential area in Odesa district and exploded," Kiper said, adding that several houses were damaged, and one person was found dead in one of them afterwards.

The air force said its defense systems destroyed a cruise missile in addition to the drones. It said, without providing details, that Russia also launched an Iskander ballistic missile that "did not reach" its target.

The Russian air weapons were destroyed over Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Khmelnitskyi regions, the air force said.

On Saturday, the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was hit by Russian drone attacks, local authorities reported.

The regional military administration said that one doctor was injured when the debris from a shot down an Iranian Shahed drone rained down on the hospital building in the port city.

Ukraine’s Operational Command South reported that it shot down nine Iranian-made Russian-operated drones over the Kherson region.

With reporting by Reuters, AP

The Director General of Airports in Fars Province confirmed the incident, stating that the crash occurred near Lake Parishan in Kazerun.

The semi-official ISNA news agency reported that the aircraft, described as "training-military type," crashed due to technical failure. The pilot managed to eject using a parachute, and there were no fatalities or injuries.

However, In an interview the governor of Kazerun confirmed that the pilot is currently hospitalized, suffering from a pelvic bone fracture.

The Sukhoi 22 is a single-seat bomber fighter aircraft manufactured in Russia, with the majority of the aircraft in the possession of the IRGC, originally owned by Iraq that Saddam Hussein sent to Iran not to lose them to US attacks.

The incident follows a similar one in August last year when another Sukhoi 22 fighter jet of the IRGC crashed at the Shiraz airbase, attributed to technical failure. In November 2017, in Sarvestan County, Fars Province, another aircraft of the same type crashed, resulting in the death of the pilot.

Aircraft accidents are not limited to the IRGC in Iran. In May 2022, two fighter jets of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army crashed within a few days, with one incident occurring in Esfahan Province, resulting in the death of the pilot and co-pilot.

Over recent years, several aviation accidents have led to the loss of military commanders and personnel. Ahmad Kazemi, the commander of the Ground Forces of the IRGC, lost his life in an aviation accident near Urmia on January 9, 2006.

Mansour Shisheforoush, the director of provincial crisis management in Esfahan, disclosed in an interview with semi-official ISNA news agency that four individuals sustained injuries during the incident, with one person hospitalized due to severe burns.

The incident follows an incident on December 10 when all 18 hydrocarbon tanks at the Birjand oil refinery in South Khorasan were consumed by flames. The explosion and fire at the Birjand refinery occurred less than a year after an expansion project was inaugurated.

Deputy Governor of South Khorasan reported substantial damages amounting to an estimated 14 million USD incurred by the Birjand refinery in the aftermath of the incident.

Iran has witnessed a series of industrial accidents, including fires in oil facilities, petrochemical plants, and industrial centers in recent years. The incidents are often attributed to outdated technology, the use of substandard equipment, and the aging and deterioration of structures. While authorities have not provided comprehensive explanations for the incidents, they have attributed several high-profile sabotage attacks on facilities to Israel. However, Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for any of the incidents.

Iranian authorities have acknowledged the ongoing concern of both industrial and non-industrial "sabotage." Fereydoun Abbasi, a member of the Energy Commission of the Parliament, highlighted on Saturday, "Over time, a person may, due to dissatisfaction, family problems, or the influence of others, become a saboteur. A saboteur doesn't necessarily plant a bomb; sometimes, they engage in industrial sabotage, meaning they learn to tamper with electricity, water, or manipulate gas pressure."

Reports emerged Saturday that the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group has moved from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen where the Houthis operate. The move could also be a measure of deterrence against the Houthis who have crippled international shipping with their daily attacks against commercial vessels.

The Biden administration has so far refused to strike back at Houthis, fearing, perhaps, that the Iranian regime would further unleash its proxies in the region and drag the US into a costly, uncertain, and likely unpopular war thousands of miles from home

But the Houthis' increasingly brazen operations seem to be shifting opinions at the White House and the Pentagon.

Politico quoted two unnamed Pentagon officials Saturday as saying that “top Biden administration officials are actively weighing options to strike back at Houthis in Yemen.” The same source suggested that the US military “has also provided options to commanders to strike the Houthis.”

Taking advantage of US hesitation, the Houthis have managed to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea with regular (and escalating) attacks on commercial vessels. Four of the world’s five largest shipping companies have halted their traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Straits in the past two days.

Many fear that a prolonged halt in shipping in the Red Sea would affect the global economy, by driving up costs and re-igniting inflation, while disrupting supplies.

Currently, 12% of global trade passes through the Red Sea, according to a statement by the International Chamber of Shipping –which calls on “nations with influence in the region to stop the Houthis from attacking sailors and ships.”

The Biden administration has repeatedly warned the Houthis that they would not be spared if provocation continues. But so far the group has only escalated their operations.

On Saturday, the Pentagon confirmed that a US warship in the Red Sea had foiled a mass kamikaze drone attack by Houthi drones.

“USS Carney successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” read the Pentagon statement. “The UAS were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries.”

A day before, two giants of shipping and logistics (Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd) announced they were pausing all journeys through the Red Sea, after Houthi attacks on their vessels.

Houthis say they would continue their operations as long as Israel continues its onslaught against Gaza. Initially they announced that their aim is to stop commercial ships headed to Israel, but later the threatened all vessels.

"While the Houthis are pulling the trigger, they're being handed the gun by Iran,” said White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday. “And Iran has a responsibility to it to take steps themselves to cease these attacks.”.

he Islamic Republic officials, however, have repeatedly affirmed their support for Yemen Houthis and have even threatened the US and its allies with "extraordinary problems" if they create a task force, as reported widely Friday.

Senator Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Saturday decried Biden’s failure in dealing with the crisis. “Iran & the Houthis are increasing with impunity the dangers to commercial shipping through the Middle East,” he posted on X.