The owner of an Iranian mobile phone retail store who claimed to sell the iPhone at about half its price has gone into hiding, state media cited police as saying.
Kourosh Company ran extensive advertisement campaigns to sell Apple's iPhones, with prices starting at 200 million rials (about $400) for a model worth almost twice that much. The company claimed that it can secure the low price by "eliminating intermediaries."
Reports suggest that the company had not delivered the phones to customers, leading some people who had pre-purchased mobile phones to file lawsuits against the company.
Following the government sealed the company's offices, media reported the disappearance of owner Amirhossein Sharifian.
Citing an informed police source, IRNA claimed operations are underway to arrest him, and his case is being pursued by the economic security police. Tasnim news agency reported that the father of the company's owner was arrested on charges of "collusion" in the case.
A lot of Iranian celebrities had appeared in the company’s publicity ads, asking people to trust the company and promising that they would not regret it. The celebrities who appeared in the ads are under fire on social media networks.
In 2022, the Islamic Republic said it would not allow legal imports of iPhones and would not register iPhone 14 and newer models, as an unnecessary item draining the country's foreign currency. Despite the ban as well as not functioning with Iranian sim-cards, new models are available at the market with prices reaching as high as $2,000 for expensive models.
In August 2022, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a call to prohibit the import of "luxury American phones" into Iran.
A photo of Qasem Soleimani’s daughter holding the latest iPhone 13 at the second anniversary of her father’s death in 2022 led to a storm of criticism that overshadowed the ceremonies.
In January 2022, a report said Iran spent $9 billion in foreign currency to import mobile phones in 33 months, with a large portion going for “luxury” devices with a price tag of over $600.