Iran’s Revolutionary Guards intervened this spring to block a leading tech firm’s stock market debut, The Washington Post on Wednesday, in a sign of the sprawling military organization's grip over the ailing economy.
The company, Divar, is one of the most prominent firms to emerge from Iran’s start-up sector in the past decade. Its CEO took the rare step of publishing online a letter indicating the Revolutionary Guards' disapproval of its listing under his leadership.
Offering online classified ads similar to Craigslist, Divar enables Iranians to buy and sell secondhand goods and find and rent homes.
It has about 38 million active users, or nearly half the country’s population, according to a 2023 report from a Swedish investment firm with indirect shares in the company.
But its efforts to go public on the Tehran Stock Exchange were halted after the Guards objected to the presence of Divar’s founder and CEO, Hessam Mir Armandehi.
Late last month, Armandehi published a copy of the internal order on LinkedIn. “It is hereby brought to your attention that the Intelligence Organization of the Guards … has declared Mr. Hessam Mir Armandehi’s lack of qualification, and consequently, the company’s acceptance is contingent upon his absence,” the June 10 letter read. According to the document, the order had been issued on April 27.
Divar is reportedly highly profitable, according to four people familiar with the company who spoke to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity. A consortium of foreign investors, including Europeans, holds 15 percent of the shares of its parent company, according to its website. The consortium and the Swedish firm declined to comment.
The post was seen as a rare act of defiance in what The Washington Post called a secretive, authoritarian system.
Dozens of Iranian executives shared Armandehi’s post and wrote messages of support. “I wish we had a good and responsible government that appreciated great and capable entrepreneurs and start-ups,” one wrote. Another added, “Exactly for this reason it is impossible to grow in Iran!!”
Divar has previously clashed with security institutions. The company has refused to turn over private user data and resisted pressure to sell shares to entities linked to the state.
One person familiar with the company said Divar was also pressured to sell to a firm partly owned by a conglomerate close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate authority over the Guards.
In one past case, Armandehi’s cousin and fellow executive Ashkan Armandehi was briefly detained after refusing to hand over user data.
He later told Iranian media the company would not comply with blanket requests. “Providing information about ads and users without a court order is illegal,” he said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are widely known to hold major shares in oil, telecom, and construction. But the Divar case has exposed the Guards’ expanding informal control over digital companies they do not legally own, the article said.
“If a founder doesn’t have the right to stay in their own company, no investor will confidently invest in the digital economy,” Iran’s Deputy ICT Minister Ehsan Chitsaz wrote on X. “The stock market is a tool for corporate governance and transparency, not a tool for the arbitrary elimination of individuals or managerial coercion.”
The pressure Armandehi described has further deepened the private sector’s challenges by eroding fair competition and undermining Iran’s efforts to attract foreign capital, experts told The Washington Post.
“This leads to lower investment, of course, and it leads to capital flight not only from investors in Divar but also in many other digital companies, many other companies that are private,” said Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. “If they continue these kinds of policies, they are helping the collapse of the Islamic Republic.”
Despite the threats, Armandehi said he is staying. “Even now with all these pressures, I’ve neither lost hope nor have any plans for emigrating or leaving Divar,” he wrote.
Shargh newspaper published results of a study on Tuesday, with data collected from different parts in Iran on food intake and access to nutrition.
The daily cited non-governmental organizations and volunteers as having carried out the research, without elaborating.
The report said only 1.7% of households reported daily protein consumption while 27% of all households said they do not consume any kind of protein.
Among households with temporary employment, more than 93% consume protein less than once a week or not at all. In unemployed households, this figure rises to 95%.
No dairy
Iranians face ever-rising prices with inflation around 40%, according to officials. The national currency Rial has lost over 90% of its value since US sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
Dairy consumption is also low, posing a serious nutritional crisis for children.
According to the report, only 2% of children consume daily dairy, and 50% receive none at all, even among households with stable jobs.
The study said that among families classed as living in food poverty, 43% endured what it classed as economic hardship, 32% involved earning-age parents experiencing unemployment and 6% were effected by some form of addiction.
Based on the findings, more than 80% of responses directly or indirectly point to the lack of stable income and employment as the major reason for malnutrition.
Disparity in access
Only 1.7% of households consume protein daily, the report added, with 26.9% consuming no protein at all. Among households with temporary jobs, over 93% consume protein less than once a week or not at all.
“Essentials like meat, chicken, milk, and cheese are gone. Some used to buy scraps or expired chicken, but now even those are unaffordable. Fruit and vegetables, too, are out of reach,” Shargh quoted Reyhaneh Shirazi, a social activist in Tehran’s Darvazeh Ghar district, as saying.
“We see more children with serious stomach aches linked directly to poor diets.” Shirazi added. "Once, food aid was for rare cases. Now it’s common, which is shocking."
Access and affordability
“No one buys meat. If they can afford anything, it's chicken. Maybe if someone donates meat. Fruit is a luxury except watermelon, which grows locally," said a teacher near Kerman.
"Vegetables are rarely consumed. Food is mostly lentils and bread. Breakfast is nonexistent. Illnesses tied to nutrition are high, especially in children."
Parisa Ahmadi, a social worker in Shiraz, says iron and vitamin deficiencies are widespread.
“Parents are street vendors, and kids also work. Doctors confirm they suffer from severe malnutrition, iron and vitamin deficiency, which effects physical and cognitive development," she said. "Common meals are eggplant, beans, lentils and pasta. Meat and eggs once a month. Rice is rare.”
Worst malnutrition cases
Child rights advocate and social entrepreneur Faezeh Derakhshani launched a creative program turning surplus fruit into dried fruit for kids, according to the paper. Her team distributed 130 kg (286 pounds) of dried fruit to kindergartens in Sistan and Baluchistan province.
“There’s no detailed report on kids' intake of meat, dairy, and fruits in Iran. Besides protein-energy malnutrition, we have micronutrient malnutrition, which is less visible but has lasting effects. Zinc, iron and vitamin A and D deficiencies lead to weak immunity, poor learning and stunted growth.”