Iran's Defense Minister: We Have Closed 130 of Our Companies Engaged in Economic Activities

Iran's Defense Minister announced that the ministry has shut down more than 130 of its companies involved in economic activities and has also transferred some of these companies. Amir Hatami, in an interview with the Iran newspaper on Saturday, September 3, stated that the ministry has transferred Wagon Pars and its share in Iran Air Tours. On January 19, 2018, the Defense Minister had also reported that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic tasked the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran with pursuing the transfer of 'unrelated' economic enterprises within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Army, and the Ministry of Defense. Mr. Hatami mentioned that the General Staff has issued 'guidelines' determining how the armed forces should engage in economic activities, specifying 'to what extent, in what manner, and with what interaction with the government.' He also noted that the Supreme Leader did not issue a specific directive but that the responsibilities of the armed forces naturally fall under this staff. Mr. Hatami did not provide further details on these guidelines. The Defense Minister also stated that he expressed readiness in a meeting to the Minister of Roads and Urban Development to transfer projects under the Ministry of Defense's execution, including the Isfahan-Shiraz highway, the Tehran-Mashhad electric train, and the Ramsar bypass, to the private sector. The Secretary of the Association of Investment Companies in Highways stated on July 30 that, in addition to the IRGC and Astan Quds Razavi, contracting companies from the 'Law Enforcement, Army, and Ministry of Defense' have also entered road construction projects. In recent years, the Iranian armed forces have established financial and economic institutions in various sectors, including the economic institutions of the IRGC, Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, and Ansar Bank. The investment company Mehr Eghtesad Iranians, affiliated with the Basij Cooperative Foundation, has also purchased shares in several companies, including Mobarakeh Steel, Iralko, Tabriz Tractor Manufacturing, Sadra, Technotaz, the Industrial Development Investment Company, and Jaber Ibn Hayyan Pharmaceutical Company. The Iranian Ministry of Defense also has several companies besides military industries, including Iran Electronics Industries, Shams Omran Company, and Energy Resource Development Company. The Iranian Army has also established economic entities in recent years, including Hekmat Bank, Qaem Construction Headquarters, Spadana Industrial Group factories, and Saba Insurance Foundation. The economic activities of military forces and other institutions under the Supreme Leader's supervision have previously drawn criticism from Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, two former presidents of Iran, and some members of parliament. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, wrote in a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei on March 12 of last year that the 15 Khordad Foundation, the Foundation of the Oppressed, the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Command, the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, the Army Cooperative Foundation, the Basij Cooperative Foundation, the Ministry of Defense Cooperative Foundation, and the economic sector of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee 'hold over 700 trillion tomans in wealth, of which the public is unaware of their work reports, income, and expenditure locations.' There have also been previous reports about the arrest of some IRGC and Law Enforcement commanders on charges of financial corruption.