A member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Relations Committee has said that the current "weak government" is the result of the presence of "a corrupt deviant group".
Morteza Mahmoudvand, a parliament member from Khorram Abad, informed reporters that most of Iran's problems stem from this corrupt faction within the government. He pledged to substantiate this claim with documents and evidence for the public.
He emphasized, "Despite the efforts of the current parliament to assist the government, certain deviant elements within the Raisi administration obstructed constructive measures, leading to a feeble government." He reiterated his statement as a seasoned political and security expert.
Mahmoudvand accused this deviant group of having connections to foreign entities, although he refrained from disclosing the identities of these individuals or the involved foreign countries. He asserted that these infiltrators have permeated the government and are responsible for the failures of the Raisi administration.
He revealed that he had informed President Ebrahim Raisi multiple times about these infiltrators but observed no action taken by the Iranian president. Mahmoudvand added that when Raisi formed his government, he lacked a cohesive team, allowing foreign-backed infiltrators to join his administration, potentially leading to a significant crisis for the nation.
Similarly, former lawmaker Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi told reporters on Monday that individuals like Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi, lacking prior administrative experience, were suddenly promoted to cabinet positions. He expressed regret, saying, "I wish Raisi had never become Iran's President."
Imanabadi lamented the loss of the European market due to the inefficiency of government ministers and officials. He criticized the parliament, citing members who lack understanding of the country's realities and economic illiteracy.
He remarked, "There isn't a single economist among the members of the new parliament." He criticized the prevalence of populist radicals in the current parliament.
Iranian hardliners loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei barred hundreds of candidates from running for the March 1 parliamentary elections, paving the way for a relatively small circle of ultraconservatives to win many seats amid a low-turnout event.
Imanabadi said: "I am not happy about the government's failure. It is regrettable that as a result of the government's inefficiency the rate of exchange for the US dollar is now more than 600,000 rials. In the meantime, we have lost the European market as the government has shown more interest in transactions with regional countries. Our trade balance for the first nine months of the Iranian Year (late March to late December 2023) has been negative.”
He pointed out: "We have lost so many of our military men in Syria, but we hold only four percent of that country's market” This comes while more than 70 percent of the Syrian market belongs to Turkey, he said and added, "At the same time, the International Monetary Fund has acknowledged the sharp drop in the value of Iranian currency. This is the outcome of assigning big jobs to radical populists who do not understand the realities.
Pointing out the weakness of the parliament, Imanabadi said that only 7 percent of legislation by the current parliament have something to do with the country's economic situation.
The former commander of the IRGC's Khatamolanbia Headquarters Saeed Mohammad has in a recent interview highlighted the lack of coordination among the members of Raisi's economic team as one of the reasons for his administration’s economic failures. He asked: "Why the government does not ask itself for what reasons its economic slogans have not materialized?"
He questioned the administration's failure to fulfill its economic promises despite Khamenei's repeated emphasis on production growth.
Following this action, ArvanCloud filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice and simultaneously pressured European governments through political channels to revoke this decision.
At the same time, ArvanCloud announced the termination of its contract with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
A source close to European authorities informed Iran International that ArvanCloud's overseas supporters claimed to have played a significant role in providing millions of Iranian citizens with access to a free internet during the Woman, Life Freedom protests in 2022-2023. This claim appears to be one of the reasons for the EU's decision to lift sanctions on ArvanCloud.
Iran has been blocking tens of thousands of websites since 2002, and as social media emerged, it began also blocking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (X) and You Tube. Traditional media is also heavily censored, as are books and films, both from the perspective of Islamic beliefs and political content.
The European Union and ArvanCloud have not responded to Iran International's request for clarification about this information at the time of publication.
The European Union annually reviews its list of individuals and entities violating human rights in Iran and decides whether to renew the sanctions or not. The outcome of this decision is announced in the official EU newspaper one or two days later.
In June 2023, the US Treasury Department labeled ArvanCloud as a key partner of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran in developing the national information network and disconnecting Iranians from the global internet, based on which, two founders of this company were sanctioned along with one of its branches in the UAE.
A source close to decision makers in the EU told Iran International: "The 'Anonymous' hacking group previously exposed documents from the Islamic Republic's internet filtering committee server, showing that ArvanCloud had blocked various websites at the committee's request."
In one case, ArvanCloud officials went beyond the given orders and not only blocked a website but also its server's IP address.
Documents released by Nariman Gharib, an internet researcher, in 2022 also showed that Issa Zarepour, the Minister of Communications, had asked President Ebrahim Raisi to take action through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the European countries to remove ArvanCloud from the sanctions list.
In the same letter, Raisi was asked to agree that law firms associated with the embassies of the Islamic Republic undertake the defense of ArvanCloud at the government's expense.
ArvanCloud controls 49% of Iran's cloud space market and continues to host many of the Islamic Republic's most important websites, including the Presidency, IRNA news agency, and the Ministry of Islamic Guidance.
One of the information centers of this company is installed at Payam Airport, belonging to the Ministry of Communications.