Iran Ex-Security Chief Got $3.5mn Per Year From IRGC-Backed Drug Lord

The rial on Sunday alone rose nearly 4 percent against the US dollar and other currencies after media reported that the Biden administration gave a waiver to Iraq to release about $2.7 billion of frozen Iranian funds.

The rial was trading at 555.000 against the US dollar on May 1, but on June 11 it rose to 470,000, a 17-percent gain.

Western and Israeli media, as well as Iran International have quoted well-informed sources as saying that direct and indirect talks have been taking place between Washington and Tehran, possibly for a limited nuclear deal or an exchange of Iran’s frozen funds with American dual nationals held hostage by the regime.

South Korean banks hold $7 billion that Seoul owes Tehran for oil imports prior to full US sanctions imposed in May 2019. South Korea was allowed to import a limited quantity of oil from May 2018 to May 2019 despite initial sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

These funds have been cited as a possible ransom for freeing three US citizens imprisoned in Iran on manufactured charges.

Iraq also owes Iran at least $7 billion, but the $2.7 said to have been waivered by the US will not reach Iran as cash. Tehran can use the money to import food and pay for the expenses of pilgrims going to Iraq.

The price of mutton has passed 5,000,000 rials a kilogram (about $10) and some other items like edible oil and dairy products have jumped 30 percent in recent weeks.

According to officials, the monthly minimum wage of less than $150 only suffices for nine days of a family's livelihood.

Farmers and ranchers say if they do not increase the prices of meat and dairy products, they have toclose down their businesses soon.

However, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed Sunday that to resolve the economic woes, the country needs to have nuclear energy, but he declined to say how nuclear energy can help controllingthe inflation. 

A few months into the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, when inflation was around 40 percent, the High Council of Labor increased the minimum wage by an unprecedented 57 percent in early 2022 after two consecutive years of very high inflation. At the time minimum wage almost equaled $220.

However, the rial lost half of its value in the past nine months and the minimum wage, without housing allowance, has dropped to around $120 a month.

Khamenei who was addressing a group of Iranian nuclear scientists and officials in Tehran also claimed that Iran will not opt for nuclear weapons simply because of Islamic principles, “otherwise, they could not have prevented us.”

Tehran’s nuclear program, which has almost reached the threshold of weaponization, is quite controversial among Iranians, with many blaming the resulting sanctions for ruining the economy and impoverishing tens of millions of people.

Apparently, cognizant of the is fact, Khamenei said, “If you want a powerful Iran, all those who love Iran and the Islamic Republic, everyone who loves the nation and aspires for the power of this country, should regard this nuclear scientific, research and industrial effort as important.”

His use of nationalist slogans was clearly meant to garner some support among the population, with what is seen as a small minority of loyalists supporting the regime.

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Iran’s nuclear program once again became a highly controversial international issue when former US President withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA accord, demanding a tougher agreement and a change of behavior by Iran that was fomenting trouble across the Middle East.

President Joe Biden quickly signaled his intention to return to the JCPOA, but Iran that had reacted relatively cautiously to Trump’s move, began to up the ante in December 2020, by passing a law to increase uranium enrichment first to 20 and then to 60-percent purity by early 2021.

Western officials and experts say that there is no justifiable civilian use for 60-percent enriched uranium. The only likely purpose is to purify uranium to 90 percent needed for assembling a bomb.

Negotiations that began in April of that year to revive the JCPOA came to an impasse in 2022, and Iran continued to accumulate enriched uranium. American officials believe that Tehran would be able to weaponize in just a few months if it decides to go nuclear.

In the light of recent reports about secret talks to reach some sort of a limited deal, whereby Iran would cap its uranium enrichment, Khamenei said, “It is possible that they [the West] would want to reach an agreement in some areas, but the nuclear infrastructure should not be affected.”

Iran has deployed thousands of advanced enrichment machines known as centrifuges in the past two years that can turn out enough 90-percent purified fissile material for a bomb in just two weeks. Even an agreement to freeze enrichment now, would leave Iran in the advantageous position of remaining at the nuclear threshold. 

Any limited agreement, which the US has denied, would most likely leave these centrifuges in place.

Despite Washington’s denials there are signs of some steps signaling attempts to somewhat reduce the extent of disagreement.

Reports on Saturday indicated that the Biden administration has allowed Iraq to make available $2.7 billion of Iranian funds blocked in Iraqi banks due to US sanctions. This is so far the largest tranche of money Washington has allowed to be released, although it has been suspicious of Iranian machinations in Iraq to launder money.

Khamenei also reiterated his long-held position that the West and UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot be trusted. 

Any negotiation or nuclear agreement should receive Khamenei’s approval, since he has the final say in all important political, military and economic issues, as the Supreme Leader.

On the other hand, reformist clerics suggested that the government had better stop putting religious pressure on citizens to “guide them to heaven.”

The Imam in Tehran, Mohamad-Javad Haj-Aliakbari, said that "the enemy" is spreading nihilism in Iran, adding that "In a year when we are getting close to the Majles [parliament] and Assembly of Experts elections, the enemy is trying to sow despair and heresy in Iran."

The term enemy, regularly used by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his loyalists, refers to the United States. By making this statement the Friday Imam was attributing Iranian women's defiance to compulsory hijab to a conspiracy by the United States. 

Iranian clerics and regime officials invariably attribute their failures in various cultural, political and economic areas to the United States or the pre-revolution government that was replaced by the Islamic Republic 44 years ago. 

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The Tehran Imam said the West is waging a cultural onslaught against Iran to stop the country's progress in areas such as missile development. Meanwhile he accused Iranian women of not being chaste enough as they follow the West's teachings. 

In another development Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayers Imam of Mashad said: "The Islamic revolution's aim was not simply feeding the people and improving the economy. We did not simply want to give political control to the pious and expel US mercenaries from Iran. The aim was to allow the people to live freely." 

However, Alamolhoda. a staunch supporter of compulsory hijab and one of the biggest defenders of clerical rule in Iran did not explain how the Islamic Republic or his own ideology would let people live freely. Meanwhile he praised the Islamic Republic's "achievement" in developing a “supersonic missile” that can reach Israel in less than 10 minutes.

Alamolhoda is the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi and enjoys some influence with Khamenei.

As if he was responding to Alamolhoda,Sunni Leader Mawlana Abdolhamid, who led the Friday prayers in Zahedan, said, "Good for you if you can make missiles, but you need to feed the people first." His comment was a reference to Iran's economic crisis that has been pushing millions of Iranians under the poverty line particularly during the past two years.

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Meanwhile, Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami criticized the government's approach to hijab and hardliner clerics such as Alamolhoda's insults against Iranian women who brand women without hijab as "unchaste." Khatami said: "Hijab and chastity are two different things," adding that hardliner "clerics should not impose the hijab on the Iranian society." 

He pointed out that hijab is a matter of choice, and it should not be imposed on women. He suggested that hardliners should avoid imposing "backward" ideas on the society. He added that "Islam should respond to the needs of the modern world." Khatami further stressed that "Women need to be respected if we wish to move toward a better future."

Khatami said: "You should be a human being first and then decide whether you want to be a religious person." He reiterated that there should be no difference between men and women in terms of freedom and dignity and we understand that there will be no limit to our growth." 

Meanwhile, Khatami's former chief of staff, Mohammad Ali Abtahi said: "The affairs of the state cannot be furthered by forcing the people and pushing them into paradise, but some of the country's decision-makers believe that this is a good way of running the country and anyone against it should be suppressed." He called on the government to respect the preferred lifestyle of young Iranians. 

In a phone call, Macron urged Iran to "immediately cease" the support it is giving Russia in the war against Ukraine.

Iran has supplied hundreds of its kamikaze Shahed drones to Russia that have been used against military and civilian targets since October last year. The United States and its main NATO allies have repeatedly warned Tehran to stop its close military cooperation with Moscow.

Macron also expressed concerns about the trajectory of the Iranian nuclear program, the statement said.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Ukraine say the supply of Iranian-made drones to Russia violates a 2015 UN Security Council resolution enshrining the Iran nuclear deal.

Washington has also said that the resumption of nuclear talks with Tehran that can lead to lifting of economic sanctions partly depends on Iran seizing its weapons supplies to Russia.

The White House said on Friday that Russia appeared to be deepening its defense cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it is using to strike Ukraine.

The drones serve to supplement Russia’s missile inventory that has been reduced as it attacked civilian infrastructure for months. The cheap drones also are a weapon that can exhaust Ukraine’s air defense missiles, as they are often launched in dozens.

With reporting by Reuters