Leaked Document Reveals Iran’s Multiple Telecom Deals With China
A whistleblower active in the IT industry has leaked documents revealing hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of telecommunications contracts between Iran and China.
A whistleblower active in the IT industry has leaked documents revealing hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of telecommunications contracts between Iran and China.
London-based Iranian-British internet security expert and cyber espionage investigator Nariman Gharib released a list of contracts signed between the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and Chinese companies.
The secret document – which has no date and cannot be verified independently by Iran International -- contains a table of 10 contracts for various projects such as development of Iran’s landline network, infrastructure for fourth and fifth generation of broadband cellular networks and three satellite projects as well as production of smartphones and developing messenger services.
Feasibility studies for several of the projects have been carried out but some others are in the planning stages.
The project for the supply and operation of a geosynchronous telecommunication satellite is announced to be at $100 to $450 million for a 42-month project while another satellite project is valued at $300 million for a three-year project.
The project for landline development is worth $220 million while the project for the modernization of Telecommunication Company of Iran, or TCI -- the country’s main mobile service provider -- is $325 million followed by the modernization of MTN Irancell -- another telecommunications company -- at $250 million.
Each company will get 1,500 5G sites and 3,000 LTE networks, according to the contracts.
China’s large-scale effort to control and censor the Internet has become a viable conceptual and technical model for authoritarian regimes, like Iran's Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic of Iran follows China’s lead in systematic oppression techniques.
China has combined legislative actions and technological enforcement to regulate the Internet domestically, calling it “The Great Firewall” of China.
Cybersecurity expert, Robert Potter, has said in a joint report, "China is known to be building a techno-surveillance authoritarian state domestically."
China’s second-largest telecom equipment maker, ZTE, sells to more than 500 carriers in more than 160 countries, 60 of which have questionable human rights records. In addition to selling services, China provides training programs that include subjects like ‘manipulating public opinion.’
According to a 2012 report by Reuters, China’s ZTE sold TCI a powerful surveillance system capable of monitoring landline, mobile and internet communications. The system was part of a 98.6-million-euro ($130.6 million) contract. Government-controlled TCI has a near monopoly on Iran’s landline telephone services and much of Iran’s internet traffic is required to flow through its network. The ZTE-TCI deal, signed in December 2010, illustrates how despite tightening global sanctions at the time, Iran still managed to obtain sophisticated technology, including systems that can be used to crack down on dissidents.
During a briefing at an annual security conference in Munich in 2020, United States’ officials warned that China will use Huawei’s presence in future communication networks to steal corporate secrets, censor content, and track dissidents. Critics of China say the rapid rise of these tech companies stems from the theft of intellectual property. Chinese tech giant Huawei has done business with North Korea, helped Iran spy on their citizens, and created ‘back doors’ for easier intellectual property theft.
As Washington stepped up pressure on the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, the US Justice Department accused Huawei Technologies in February 2020 of helping the Islamic Republic track anti-government protesters. In September 2021, Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou admitted helping Huawei conceal dealings with the Iranian regime.
Flowing 700 miles, the river – also known as Helmand – enters Iran's Hamoun wetlands in the Sistan-Baluchestan province after originating in the Hindu Kush Mountains near Kabul. Lake Hamoun used to be one of the world's largest wetlands, straddling 4,000 square kilometres (1,600 square miles) between Iran and Afghanistan.
The river constitutes more than 40% of Afghanistan’s surface water, according to water experts, and runs about 1,125km (700 miles) southwest from the Hindu Kush mountains into Iran. The River, which both Afghanistan and Iran depend on for agriculture and drinking water, has been their biggest source of tension for years.
Over the years, Iran has accused Afghanistan of restricting the flow of water from the river by building dams over it, a charge that Afghan authorities deny.
Speaking on Thursday on a visit to the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province – a deprived region where the water is desperately needed – President Ebrahim Raisi warned the Taliban: "Take my words seriously so that you don't complain later."Sistan-Baluchestan is the most deprived region of Iran.
"Afghanistan's rulers should allow our experts to come and check the truth of the matter. If our experts confirm a lack of water, we have nothing to say, otherwise we will not allow the rights of our people to be violated in any way," he added.
During his visit, Raisi also inaugurated a project to supply water from the Gulf of Oman to eastern cities of the country, including to more than 150 villages across the Sistan-Baluchestan province.
The new water supply project would take water from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman to the provinces of Sistan-Baluchistan, South Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan via a 1,700-kilometer pipeline.
It has been criticized by experts as another measure by the government that would aggravate the situation, with environmentalist Kaveh Madani describing it as detrimental to unique ecosystem of the Persian Gulf region.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian recently said that the Afghan side has claimed the dam built over Hirmand does not have enough water.
Calling on Afghan authorities to let the water flow, he said, "Our clear request from the Afghan side is to open the gates of the Kajaki Dam before the time is lost," he said.
An agreement between Tehran and Kabul in 1973 stipulated that Afghanistan had to allow Iran an average of 556,000 acre-feet or 820 million cubic meters of water per year.Afghanistan must deliver water from the Helmand River to Iran at a rate of 22 cubic meters per second per annum (normal water year) with an additional four cubic meters per second for “goodwill and brotherly relations.”
Earlier in the month, the Iranian president's special envoy for Afghan affairs, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, only 27 million cubic meters of water reached Iran last year that is a small fraction of how much Iran is entitled to under the water-sharing treaty.
“The issue of the (1973) treaty is a legal issue, to which the Afghan government is committed and has declared its adherence. It must also implement the treaty,” he said.
Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian has also recently said that the government is taking "serious steps" to ensure proper implementation of the treaty, adding that Taliban authorities in Kabul are committed to the water-sharing treaty.
The previous Afghan government stopped the flow of water to Iran after inaugurating the Kamal Khan Dam, in Nimroz province in 2021.
At the inauguration of the dam, ex-President Ashraf Ghani, pledged to stick by the 1973 agreement over Hirmand waters, saying that Kabul wanted to trade water for oil. “Afghanistan would no longer give free water to anyone, so Iran should provide fuel to Afghans in exchange for water,” he said.
In late July 2022, Amir-Abdollahian also warned his Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, that prohibiting Tehran from its rightful access to the Helmand River will only cause further strain to already tattered ties.
Afghanistan argues that complaints about improper allocation of water were made when the Helmand River Basin was under drought which severely reduced the river’s water flow, with Afghani pundits claiming that Iran had been receiving more water during normal and above-normal water years.
One way to solve the issue, as foreseen in the Helmand River Treaty in 1973, is that the two neighboring countries jointly determine places of delivery and construct joint hydrometric stations, regulating their water share more strictly.
In August 2022, Afghanistan and Iran agreed on a timeline for the construction of joint hydrometric stations, but such projects will take years to complete.
Hardliners, who packed the parliament in 2020 with help from the Guardian Council, which barred most other candidates, are seen as determined to hold on to power.
There is also near unanimous consensus among non-hardliners that voter turnout will be very low in the absence of competition, at least among regime factions.
Jahanbakhsh Mohebbinia, a former Iranian lawmaker close to ex-Speaker Ali Larijani has accused media outlets close to the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) of spreading fake news to create an atmosphere of excitement ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election.
Recently IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency spread rumors about former President Hassan Rouhani and former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani allegedly considering the idea of running for the parliament. However, Larijani issued a terse response, alluding to “purification” efforts by hardliners.
Referring to Iranian ultraconservatives in the parliament, Mohebbinia said, "They are individuals who had no part in the 1979 Islamic revolution but occupied the country's power centers."
Some Iranian media including Rouydad24 website say there is no election mood in the country, although in the previous rounds of elections unofficial campaigning started more than one year before the election.
Mohebbinia said that hardliners wish to make Larijani angry so that he would make a few controversial comments. He said such methods are "unethical."
"With these news fabrications, Tasnim wishes to ensure a high turnout in the election," said Mohebbinia, adding that "Certainly, the turnout in this round is likely to be as low as the previous election [barely above 20 percent in big cities and around 40 percent in small towns].
Mohebbinia added some moderate conservatives in Iran wish to see Larijani as Iran's next President and Expediency Council member Mohammad Javad Bahonar as the Speaker of the Parliament.
Meanwhile, the leader of the ultraconservative Paydari Party Sadeq Mahsouli told Tasnim news agency: "Our strategy in the upcoming elections is quite clear. We try to elect the best individuals. Currently we are scoring possible candidates and those who score higher will be included in our list of candidates."
Mahsouli added: "We have our own red lines, and we will not make any compromise. However, we are prepared for cooperation with other political groups who share our values." However, he did not elaborate on those values and red lines.
In the reform front, former Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said: "We need to make big decisions for the country. There are big lessons for us in the Turkish elections."
Aref who is known for his "strategy of silence" and for speaking in vague terms to protect himself against reactions, possibly meant that Iran should introduce democratic processes in its election system and do away with the arbitrary vetting by the Guardian council, which disqualifies reform-minded candidates. He said, "the state [regime] should value the political elites' qualifications rather than making decisions based on a security approach."
In another development, Hossein Naqashi, a member of the Central Committee of the reformist Unity of Nation Party said that the Guardian Council's approach will do harm to the elections. He warned that Iranians still remember the scars of recent protests and voters may not go to the polls even if there are well-known candidates in the elections.
However, it looks highly unlikely that "well-known individuals" would ever be permitted to run for any election. According to Rouydad24, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Tuesday told Mehr news agency that he has ordered government offices to fire, as soon as possible, all the managers appointed by the former government under the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani. This looked like what Larijani characterized as purging or purification.
Saeed Yaqoubi, Saleh Mirhashmi and Majid Kazemi, were convicted over the death of two IRGC’s Basij militia members and a police officer in protests of November last year, in what Persian media have dubbed the ‘Esfahan (Esfahan) House’ case.
Describing themselves as "children of Iran" in the letter, the three prisoners said: "Hello. We ask our dear fellow citizens not to let them kill us. We need your help. We need your support."
Amir Kazemi, Majid's cousin, verified the authenticity of the hand-written letter in an interview with Prague-based Farsi language Radiofarda.
After authorities released videos of three protesters confessing to the killing of three security officers their families expressed concern about their imminent execution.
On Sunday night and again on Wednesday night, people gathered outside Esfahan (Isfahan) Central Prison hoping to stop the feared hangings.
Videos posted by activists show dozens chanting slogans in front of the prison, while gunfire was also heard as thick smoke caused by teargas enveloped the area.
Opposition activists say the death penalty is being used against the Isfahan House three as an intimidation tactic to stop further protests.
Campaigners say the prisoners were tortured into confessions, and there is no reliable evidence against them.
Earlier in the day, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, called on the international community to take bold action to prevent the execution of the three protesters who were tortured into confessing.
“The shocking manner in which the trial and sentencing of these protesters was fast-tracked through Iran’s judicial system amid the use of torture-tainted ‘confessions’, serious procedural flaws and a lack of evidence is another example of the Iranian authorities’ brazen disregard for the rights to life and fair trial,” she said.
Majid Kazemi said in an audio recording from prison that he was forced to make false self-incriminating statements after interrogators beat him, gave him electric shocks, subjected him to mock executions, and threatened to rape him, execute his brothers and harass his parents.
Iranian expatriate communities plan demonstrations against the executions in cities worldwide on Saturday, May 20.
In a separate development, Iran International has learned that hearings were held for seven people detained during the ‘Women, Life, Liberty’ protests at the Revolutionary and Criminal Courts of Tabriz in the past few days. They were arrested in the city in September and November last year during protests following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
The seven -- identified as Pejman Eslami (31), Baqer Taji Ahmadifard (35), Mehdi (Safa) Fanai(41), Alireza Shirdel(33), Amir Ahmadian (21), Anoush Adami (34) and Omid Abdollah-Beigi (35) -- were charged with various crimes such as ‘Moharebeh’ that can lead to a death sentence.
Moharebeh (also transliterated as muharebeh) is an Islamic-Arabic term that in the lexicon of the Iranian regime means "fighting God” or “war against God,” and carries the death penalty. “Corruption on earth” is also another term that carries the death penalty.
According to unconfirmed reports, at least 10 underage protesters are also facing death sentences for the “moharebeh” and “corruption on earth”.
Nationwide protests that erupted after the death of Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini on September 16, posed the biggest internal challenge to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979. So far, around 500 civilians have been killed by security forces and at least 20,000 arrested. While many have been released, around 1,500 face criminal charges, and at least 80 detainees face the death sentence.