Head of Inspection Organization: Hacker of the Ministry of Industry Website 'Arrested and Revealed the Code'

Continuing the confirmations and denials regarding 'illegal car imports through the hacking of the Ministry of Industry's website', the head of the country's General Inspection Organization reiterated his previous statements, saying that the hacker 'has been arrested' and 'has revealed the code through which he accessed'. Nasser Seraaj, head of the General Inspection Organization, told ILNA news agency on Friday, July 8, that his previous statements were 'the absolute truth' and that the Ministry of Industry's letter regarding this matter has also been published on the Inspection Organization's website. About two weeks ago, Nasser Seraaj stated that due to the hacking of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade's website, 'approximately 5,000 high-end and expensive cars were imported into the country, of which about 4,000 cars have been cleared and entered the market.' The head of the Inspection Organization announced the price difference of these cars to be nearly half a billion tomans. However, the public relations department of the Ministry of Industry denied the head of the Inspection Organization's statements about the hacking of the ministry's website but confirmed the occurrence of violations in the importation of thousands of cars into the country. The Ministry of Industry's security center also announced on Wednesday that out of a total of 6,000 cars that were 'illegally ordered', the clearance operations for about 4,500 cars at customs have been halted, and cases have been opened for over 1,900 vehicles. Nonetheless, in a note titled 'What is the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade Denying?' published on the Inspection Organization's website, a letter is mentioned from the then-head of the foreign car order registration group addressed to this organization on June 9 of this year, confirming that the mentioned orders 'only occurred through hacking the system and changing the code in the database'. In the past week, coinciding with the rise of protests in Tehran and several other cities, several officials of the Islamic Republic have referred to the occurrence of 'some violations'. Among these cases are the illegal import of about five thousand high-end cars, the pre-purchase of 380,000 coins by 50 individuals, and the Ministry of Communications' action in publishing the names of companies that received 220 million euros in currency at the government rate for importing mobile phones, but only 75 million euros worth of phones were imported into the country. On the other hand, statements by the representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization also received reactions on social media on Friday. According to ISNA, Ali Qazi Askar, the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, stated that following negotiations with the President and the Central Bank Governor, 'we are seeking to... have pilgrims travel to Hajj with currency at 3,900 tomans'. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, emphasized on Wednesday that the current economic conditions have arisen partly due to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and called for 'setting aside internal disputes and resisting against U.S. pressures'.