Karrubi and the Issue of 'Settling the Remaining Payment for the Saadabad Villa of Velayati with the Leader'

Mehdi Karrubi, former head of Iran's Martyrs Foundation, has stated regarding the transfer of a 1,000-square-meter house of this foundation to Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs advisor to the Leader, that it was agreed he would settle the remaining installment of this building with the Leader of the Islamic Republic. The website 'Saham News', which is close to Karrubi's family, reported that Karrubi provided this information in response to his son Hossein regarding the transfer of this villa. According to Karrubi, after Velayati transferred his property to the Martyrs Foundation, he requested a property in Saadabad and, citing a lack of 'sufficient funds', it was decided he would pay for the property in 'installments'. Karrubi stated that after the death of Ruhollah Khomeini and the leadership of Ali Khamenei, Velayati told him, 'I will settle the rest of that money with the Leader, so Mr. Velayati did not give us the remaining money and stated that he would resolve the issue with the Leader himself.' Karrubi mentioned that although he does not recall how many installments Velayati paid, he adds that 'presumably, he has paid the amount they say.' Hossein Karrubi quoted his father as saying, 'Some of his money was left over when the Imam passed away; after the Imam's death, Mr. Velayati changed his opinion and apparently had doubts about the authorities and decrees that the Imam had given me.' He referred to the decree of the presidency of the Martyrs Foundation that had been issued for Karrubi by Khomeini. This foundation has the authority to manage and transfer several properties confiscated since the Islamic Revolution. Previously, Yashar Soltani had called on Velayati with the hashtag 'Let's Demand', asking him to explain this matter if his multiple domestic and foreign positions allowed it. Velayati, who is currently the head of the founding board of Azad University, responded by publishing his interview from 2016 with the magazine 'Panjar'. In that interview, Velayati stated that due to the early 1980s assassinations, 'Mr. Doa'go, who is now the Friday prayer leader of Shahr-e Rey, was the head of the committee at that time. He told me that your house {in Tajrish} is not safe and it is not advisable for you to stay here.' According to Velayati's account, Doa'go proposed a house near the Saadabad Palace, which was under the Martyrs Foundation's control, due to the presence of the Islamic Revolution Committee headquarters in the Saadabad Palace. After negotiating with Mehdi Karrubi, the then head of the Martyrs Foundation, he exchanged it for his personal property and it was agreed that he would pay 15 million tomans 'upfront'. Velayati stated that 'for a long time, we had to pay 700,000 tomans monthly', adding that '224 meters' of this 1,000-square-meter house was designated as a 'Hosseiniyeh' and 'recently, seeing that this Hosseiniyeh needed expansion, we also dedicated another 200 meters of it.' He added that 'of the 1,000 meters, 600 meters remain for us. On the two upper floors, four of our married children live. We also live downstairs; thus, in this 600 meters, five families live.' Ali Akbar Velayati held the position of Iran's Foreign Minister for 16 years during the presidencies of Ali Khamenei and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and after Hashemi's death, he openly criticized Hassan Rouhani's positions and aligned himself closer to Khamenei. By the decree of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, he was appointed as the head of the founding board and trustees of Azad University, and this selection has led to a wave of changes affecting this university. The issue of Velayati's residential property ownership in the Saadabad area of Tehran arose after a student group known as 'Justice-Seeking' demanded that Hassan Firouzabadi, military advisor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vacate a confiscated villa that he has held for 22 years. This conservative student organization claimed that Firouzabadi had refused the Islamic Republic Leader's order to vacate this building, and the police had also not executed the judiciary's order regarding the evacuation of this villa. Although Firouzabadi denied this accusation, stating that 22 years ago, Khamenei had given him this building as the 'top-secret office of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran' and he had not received any order to vacate it, he nevertheless vacated the villa.