Iranian MP: A very important and high-ranking official has British citizenship

While reading the report of the parliamentary committee investigating managers with dual citizenship, a member of the committee announced that a "very important and high-ranking" official in the Islamic Republic holds British citizenship.

In a public session on Sunday, August 19, the Iranian Parliament read the report of the committee investigating dual-citizen managers.

Meanwhile, Abolfazl Torabi, a member of this committee, announced in an interview with the Majles news agency, Khaneh Mellat, that a "very important and high-ranking" official had acquired British citizenship while studying in Scotland and still holds this citizenship.

Mr. Torabi did not name this official, but he could be referring to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is said to have studied in Scotland.

Previously, Mojtaba Zolnour, a representative from Qom in the parliament, had said that Mr. Rouhani's son had British and Canadian citizenship, but Hesameddin Ashna, an advisor to the president, had denied this claim.

Some sites have announced that Majid Rouhani is Mr. Rouhani's son. Also, according to some sites, one of Mr. Rouhani's daughters lives in Austria.

Mr. Rouhani's office has neither confirmed nor denied these reports.

Dual citizenship of the children of several ministers

The parliamentary report also stated that "many children" of officials who held the citizenship of foreign countries due to birth or residence in those countries "are engaged in economic activities or employment in those countries without renouncing their citizenship."

The report names the children of the Foreign Minister, the Oil Minister, and some advisors and aides to the Iranian President as people who hold dual citizenship.

Previously, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh had said that his two children live outside Iran.

The daughter and son of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were also born in the United States.

Also, according to reports previously published in Iranian media, Issa Hashemi, the son of Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, is residing in the United States.

Iranian media also reported that Mohammad Nahavandian, Hassan Rouhani's former chief of staff, has a green card.

A number of children of Islamic Republic officials also reside in foreign countries, and their citizenship status is unknown.

Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, a former spokesman for the Iranian government, had previously implicitly stated that the reason for the dual citizenship of some of the children of officials was to circumvent sanctions.

He had said: "I would say, frankly, that we burned some of the tools that helped during the sanctions. When we are under sanctions, the official path will not work."

Officials "Swear They Are Not Dual Nationals"

The parliamentary report, referring to the responses of various ministries to the committee's inquiry, stated that four people are working in the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, three in the Red Crescent Society, two in the Welfare Organization, and four in the Housing Foundation with dual citizenship.

According to this report, six people in the Ministry of Guidance are also "suspected" of having dual citizenship.

A number of ministries have also announced that it is not possible to identify dual nationals in this ministry.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary report also stated that it is not possible to fully identify dual nationals, and criticized what it called the lack of a database of dual nationals, the "negligence" of the Ministry of Intelligence, and the "weakness" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard.

The report of the parliamentary investigation committee does not mention the number of managers with dual citizenship.

However, Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, the head of this committee, announced that 300 dual-nationality managers have been identified.

He also said that it is difficult to identify dual-citizen managers because some of these people travel to Dubai with an Iranian passport and from there travel to the country of their citizenship with their second passport.

Meanwhile, Abolfazl Torabi, another member of the committee, stated regarding the method of identifying dual-citizen managers that these individuals were identified based on "evidence and circumstantial evidence."

He also said that the committee is demanding that these officials "swear that they are not dual citizens" to clarify this accusation.

Ruhollah Rahmani, the son-in-law of Gholamali Haddad Adel, is another dual citizen close to Islamic Republic officials.

Mr. Haddad Adel had said that his son-in-law was from a "martyr-raising family" in America, and these words were widely echoed in cyberspace.

In 2016, Ruhollah Rahmani was appointed as the Director General of the Office of Innovation and Investment Support at the Ministry of Communications, but resigned after the issue of dual-citizenship managers was raised.

Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, had previously announced that "we do not have a director with dual citizenship" and that the issue of dual citizenship is among the "scenarios" that the opposition has prepared against the government.

However, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the country's Attorney General, announced that the Judiciary had requested the Ministry of Intelligence several times to introduce dual-nationality managers, but the ministry's response was "not convincing."

Source: Radio Farda