Businessman Warns, Instability Worsening Brain Drain From Iran

Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi arrived in Islamabad for a one-day visit at the head of a nine-member delegation Monday and was welcomed by Pakistani counterpart Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad at the Noor Khan airbase, Rawalpindi.

Vahidi also met with Prime Minister Imran Khan, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and Interior Ministry Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar. Vahidi and Khan reportedly backed the construction of border markets and improved transport infrastructure – including roads and rail – to boost trade.

Vahid’s meeting with Bajwa, the army chief, and Pakistani security officials was joined by Iranian ambassador Mohammad Ali Hosseini, General Ahmad Ali Goudarzi, commander of the Iranian Border Guards.

Tehran and Islamabad last October agreed to arrangements for exchanging prisoners, apparently to allow repatriation of those serving sentences abroad. But the high-level attendees at the meetings may reflect concern over the Iran-Pakistan border sitting on growing human and drug trafficking out of Afghanistan.

Co-operation between the two sides has been stymied by Iran’s suspicion that Pakistan, either deliberately or though neglect, has served as a refuge for Baluchi groups that have carried out violent attacks inside Iran and by Tehran’s suspicion of Pakistan’s relationship with militant Sunni factions including the Taliban in Afghanistan. Vahidi's visit took place a week after Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef visited Pakistan.

Abdolmaleki, himself under fire by the Iranian parliament (Majles) for "incompetence" has made many controversial comments during the past six months and has been involved in more controversies by what he did or failed to do.

He started his work as minister last August by promising to create 750,000 jobs at low cost during his first year in office, but after a few weeks he claimed that creating jobs is not part of his responsibilities. Later he had to distance himself from another controversial comment about manufacturing low-price versions of the Italian luxury sportscar Lamborghini in Iran. He even told Iranians to resize the doors of their garages to make them suitable for the new cars.

Abdolmaleki was the first cabinet minister in the President Ebrahim Raisi administration whom lawmakers decided to impeach, but Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf temporarily saved him by postponing the procedure for six months.

Now, according to Sazandegi newspaper, Abdolmaleki, a former TV show host, says he has sent 1,120 corruption cases to the court, adding that most of these managers have been charged with financial corruption.

Abdolmaleki is not alone among Raisi aides who are labelled as unfit for senior positions, but hardliners with little experience have dominated the president’s roster of nominees.

According to Aftab News, major purging operations in the administrative system in Iran started in 1981, two years after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, when the Planning and Budget Organization fired at least 750 experts. Later in the same year, the Iranian Oil Ministry fired 2,900 of its employees.

Reformist daily Etemad wrote that since Abdolmaleki was nominated, a catalogue of worrying news about his controversial decisions, behavior, comments and appointments have found their way into the press. The daily stated that concerns caused by the minister's decisions and actions have been so serious that both President Ebrahim Raisi and Vice President Mohammad Mokhber have warned him to avoid adding to the government's problems.

Regardless of the warnings by his superiors Abdolmaleki has been constantly creating new controversies including asking the State Administrative and Employment Organization to approve the employment of 12 of his friends regardless of regulations that preclude their hiring.

According to Etemad, not only Abdolmaleki lacks practical experience and academic credentials, but he also seems to be adamant to repeat his errant behavior.

Abdolmaleki has also been criticized for giving top jobs to the relatives of other officials particularly the members of the ultraconservative Paydari Party. The media in Iran say that the purging operation at the ministry is partly intended to cover up these actions.

Aftab news wrote that the firing of more than half of the labor ministry's managers will cause problems for its subsidiary offices including the Pension Fund and will badly affect businesses and several state-owned companies.

Lawmaker Naser Musavi Largani accused Abdolmaleki of being biased against around 1,200 managers who have graduate degrees. Largani also charged that Abdolmaleki has distributed the ministry's resources among his friends like the spoils of war.

Meanwhile, the Iranian press accused Abdolmaleki of appointing one of his wife's friends as the chief inspector at the ministry. The media charged that this inspector has fabricated cases against the managers Abdolmaleki wanted to fire. Aftab News called on Iran's Public Prosecutor to act. The website reminded that if there were more than 1,000 corrupt managers at the ministry the intelligence agencies and the State Auditing Organization would have certainly known about them.

His daughter Ghazaleh Sharmahd, along with several other rights activists, wrote a letter to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock asking her to form a crisis management team and put pressure on the Islamic Republic to stop his killing.

Journalists and civil society activists Masih Alinejad, Jamshid Barzegar, Nazanin Bonyadi, Barry Rosen and Richard Ratcliffe were among the other signatories of the letter.

“It is of the utmost importance that the German federal government act immediately to prevent the planned state assassination of Mr Sharmahd…We urge you to take immediate, serious and sustained action to save the life of the 66-year-old German citizen and his family from this horrific act”, read the letter.

He appeared in a court in Tehran earlier this month and was charged with “spreading corruption on earth”. He could face execution if convicted on this charge, which campaigners say is often used against opponents of the government.

Sharmahd, the director of Tondar opposition group, has been held in solitary confinement for 555 days, and during this time, he has been denied an independent attorney and fair legal procedures.

The news of the Sharmehd’s kidnapping in Dubai and his transfer to Tehran by Islamic Republic agents was first released in August 2020. The Islamic Republic has alleged that Sharmahd was involved in a 2008 bombing on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people and wounded 200 more, something he and his family vehemently deny.

Bennett will meet with Bahraini Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, his office said.

"The leaders will discuss additional ways to strengthen bilateral ties...especially the advancement of diplomatic and economic issues, with an emphasis on technology and innovation," it said in a statement.

The two-day trip to Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Gulf headquarters, comes amid heightened tensions after missile attacks on neighboring United Arab Emirates by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis. Israel also normalized ties with UAE in 2020.

Israel has stepped up cooperation with the Gulf states. Manama hosted Israel's defense minister on Feb. 2 and has said an Israeli military officer will be posted in Bahrain as part of an international coalition.

On the commercial front, Israel has reported rising trade with Bahrain that reached $6.5 billion last year. There are direct flights between the countries.

The outreach by Bahrain's Sunni Muslim monarch has been criticized by an opposition led by the Shi’ite majority. The country has seen protests in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Report by Reuters

The fire started in a stockroom where motor oil and other flammable materials were stored in the Mahidasht district of Kermanshah province Monday morning, according to what government-controlled media said.

Initial reports said an industrial shed was damaged in the fire, which was put out by firefighters.

Teams have been dispatched to the base to investigate the cause of the incident.

Earlier in mid-January, social media reports by journalists and citizens said a series of loud explosions were heard in Western Iran, around the cities of Hamedan and Kermanshah. Some reports quoted Iran's Revolutionary Guard as saying that they launched air defense drills in the region, but residents reported anti-aircraft activity in the area.

Also in January, a large fire sparked by a rupture of an underwater pipeline interrupted production at one of the transmission pipelines of phase 16 of Iran’s South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Iran has been the scene of mysterious attacks since July 2020 that twice caused explosions in its high-security Natanz uranium enrichment facility, causing major damage.

The frequency of accidents in Iran’s energy facilities is increasing with some blaming lack of proper maintenance of the aging infrastructures and some suspecting sabotage by other countries, presumably Israel.