Nabavi: 60% of Iran's wealth is in the hands of institutions under the supervision of the Leader and the IRGC

Behzad Nabavi, a reformist political activist, recently said in an interview that 60 percent of the wealth in Iran is in the hands of four institutions under the command of Ayatollah Khamenei, none of which have any connection to the government or parliament.

An interview with Behzad Nabavi, a reformist political activist, on the website “Af” owned by Ahmad Tavakoli, a conservative member of parliament in previous terms, is currently circulating on social media. In the interview, Behzad Nabavi said that 60 percent of Iran’s national wealth is in the hands of four institutions. These institutions are the “Imam’s Decree Executive Headquarters,” the “Khatam Headquarters,” the “Astan Quds,” and the “Mostazafan Foundation,” which, according to him, “none of them have any connection with the government or the Islamic Consultative Assembly.”

Nabavi explained that the first three institutions are under the direct supervision of Ali Khamenei and report only to him. The fourth institution, “Khatam Headquarters, is also a subsidiary of the Revolutionary Guards, whose commander is appointed by the Supreme Leader.” Elsewhere in the interview, he said that “the government’s powers according to the constitution are about 10-20 percent of the total powers of running the country, and that is what should be expected of the government.”

The actual amount of the total assets of the institutions under the command of the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader has not been published in the media. In November 2013, Reuters reported that the assets of the "Imam's Command Executive Headquarters" amounted to "over $95 billion."

Infiltrators at high levels of government

Behzad Nabavi of the Site Alef Tribune warns, “The issue of influence is very important and serious and must be addressed.” He refers to espionage at high levels of government and says, “I believe that things are happening in the country that cannot be attributed to reformists and fundamentalists or even to extremism. For example, two Israeli spies were identified in Sardar Naqdi’s office who were in prison with some political prisoners, one of whom was executed. These are at the lower levels. And I am worried about the higher levels.”

Behzad Nabavi believes that the start of the widespread protests in January 2017 was “fabricated and orchestrated by some domestic institutions” whose calculations went wrong and the slogans got out of hand. He gives Mashhad as an example: “For example, in Mashhad, they started in front of the municipality with about 400 people chanting ‘Death to Rouhani’ and went towards the shrine. On the way back, their number increased several times and the slogans changed and they targeted the entire system!” Nabavi, at the same time, believes that the final exploitation was “counter-revolutionary.”

Third stream

Behzad Nabavi also points to a third trend, which he sees as a populist trend with “populist slogans and seemingly seeking justice.” A trend that “puts the fight against elected corruption on the agenda, meaning it targets some elected corrupt individuals,” but “doesn’t care much about the roots and essence of corruption.” He criticizes this trend, which also calls for “youthism,” for not caring about “democracy, political development, and investment in the country,” and for pursuing justice that “has no other result than distributing poverty. Something that happened in the Soviet Union and led to its collapse.”

This reformist activist believes that the Islamic Republic’s plan to “get rid of the two reformist and fundamentalist factions” may be to eventually go after people with the characteristics of the “third current,” of course, people who, according to him, are “under control,” and “if they don’t find such people, it is not unlikely that they will even go after the previous ones.” Behzad Nabavi did not name any of the well-known figures in this movement. But perhaps one of the most famous figures accused of populism in the history of the Islamic Republic, who became a fierce critic of “injustice” after falling out of power, is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during whose time Iran witnessed the concentration of most wealth and power in the hands of the same institutions that Nabavi mentioned.

Nabavi believes that people are “unhappy with the entire political system,” both the conservatives and the reformists, but he emphasizes that “the elected branches of government have little say in running the country.” This conversation took place in a context where deep and widespread corruption reigns in Iran, and any opposition from civil society activists is met with heavy prison sentences.

Behzad Nabavi was arrested in October 2009, after the presidential election of that year, and spent six years in prison.

Source: DW