Looting of Social Security with Golden Signature

The newspaper Shargh reported on its front page on Tuesday about a "serious warning from the Minister of Intelligence" and wrote that one day after Ibrahim Jaafari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, spoke about "the terrorists' intention to attack Iran, the US, and France," Mahmoud Alavi, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence, also stated: "The recent explosions are a serious warning to us that must be taken into account by experts." The newspaper Javan defended the arrest of journalists by the IRGC Intelligence Organization in an editorial, stating: "It is unclear why some officials, political currents, and authorities, instead of appreciating this intelligence, wisdom, and timely action of the IRGC in countering the threat of enemy infiltration, create such an atmosphere against the IRGC." The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz, owned by Mehrdad Bazrpash, a representative close to the Steadfast Front, defended its publication of the headline "Here is Dinner" alongside a photo of one of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris, stating: "Here is Dinner means enough of this killing and bloodshed. Now sit by the corpse of your compatriot and see if you can enjoy this bloody feast?" Mohammad Taghi Fazel-Meybodi, a member of the Society of Researchers and Teachers of Qom Seminary, described the terrorist attack in Paris as a "horrific crime" in his editorial in Shargh and expressed regret over the behavior of some Iranian media regarding the Paris terrorist attacks without naming them. This cleric close to reformists wrote: "Unfortunately, some media have addressed this unfortunate event in a way that suggests these killings must happen for the West to come to its senses. Regardless of the fact that this way of acting promotes violence, it is far from our Islamic and Iranian culture and will increase the disgust of the Iranian people towards all forms of extremism." The newspaper Royesh-e-Mellat reported that Abbas Araghchi, head of the Foreign Ministry's JCPOA Implementation Follow-up Committee, announced that contracts for "yellowcake purchases" and "sale of enriched uranium" are ready, while the newspaper Iran reported on the "collection of inactive centrifuges in Natanz." The newspaper Bahar dedicated its front page to the simultaneous trials of Saeed Mortazavi and Babak Zanjani, referring to the "looting of social security with golden signatures" and reported that on Sunday, Taqi Nourbakhsh, the current head of the Social Security Organization, once again mentioned the relationship between Saeed Mortazavi, the former head of this organization, and Babak Zanjani, stating that "numerous violations were committed by the then CEO of the Social Security Organization during the previous administration," including "signing checks without the signature of the financial director and signing and changing checks from one piece to five pieces, all of which are mentioned in the indictment of Saeed Mortazavi." This newspaper also reported on the "disappearance of 4.2 billion euros" from the Social Security Organization's account during Saeed Mortazavi's presidency, quoting Taqi Nourbakhsh as saying: "At that time, the bank announced that about 4.2 billion euros had been deposited into the Social Security Organization's account in one go, but less than a month later, it was announced that there was no money." The current head of the Social Security Organization stated that during Saeed Mortazavi's presidency, "violations were committed in a network within the Social Security Organization, in Mr. Zanjani's system and the bank," and said, "Last week, I wrote a letter to the Attorney General regarding this matter and again requested clarification on the status of the checks issued by the organization." The newspaper Bahar dedicated its front page to the simultaneous trials of Saeed Mortazavi and Babak Zanjani, referring to the "looting of social security with golden signatures" and reported that on Sunday, Taqi Nourbakhsh, the current head of the Social Security Organization, announced the "disappearance of 4.2 billion euros" in the Social Security Organization's account during Saeed Mortazavi's presidency, stating: "At that time, the bank announced that about 4.2 billion euros had been deposited into the Social Security Organization's account in one go, but less than a month later, it was announced that there was no money." The newspaper Arman reported that, according to the police spokesman, two thousand vehicles were seized due to non-compliance with Islamic hijab and "vehicles of those with improper hijab were banned from services," and a system was launched that allows state and military officials to report non-compliance with Islamic hijab and similar issues to the police by entering the vehicle's license plate number. The newspaper Javan defended the arrest of journalists by the IRGC Intelligence Organization. Yadollah Javani, former head of the political office of the IRGC and current advisor to the representative of the Supreme Leader in this force, wrote in an editorial about "the duties and missions of the IRGC in the face of infiltration threats," defending the arrest of several journalists by the IRGC Intelligence Organization, stating: "The IRGC has identified and monitored the enemy's infiltration network in domestic media, arrested several of its elements with a judicial order, and informed the Iranian people about this." The editorial writer of Javan noted that this action of the IRGC faced negative reactions from some domestic political currents and several media outlets and some officials, writing: "The President's handling of the issue and the language he used suggested that this event should not have happened and that infiltration is being misused in a factional manner," and even Ali Motahari, a representative of Tehran in the parliament, also showed a negative reaction to the IRGC's action, saying that it should not be the case that the term infiltration, like the term sedition, is used as a tool to marginalize political rivals and suppress critics. The newspaper Javan described the President's and representatives' opposition to the arrest of journalists as "atmosphere creation against the IRGC" and wrote: "Why do some officials, political currents, and authorities, instead of appreciating this intelligence, wisdom, and timely action of the IRGC in countering the threat of enemy infiltration, create such an atmosphere against the IRGC?" Yadollah Javani, who is a brigadier general in the IRGC, wrote in the editorial of Javan that "Ali Motahari commented in a way that suggested that the IRGC's involvement in this area, despite the Ministry of Intelligence and the judiciary, was not appropriate and that this matter did not concern the IRGC," stating that the IRGC must seriously intervene against factors threatening national interests and protect the interests of the Iranian people against dangers and threats. He emphasized that national interests comprise three main areas: security, economy, and values, and if any of these areas face serious threats, the IRGC has a mission to counter that threat. The editorial writer of Javan emphasized that "now two of the three areas of national interests, namely the area of ideals, values, beliefs, and the convictions of the Iranian people on the one hand, and the area of the country's economy on the other hand, are facing the threat of enemy infiltration," writing: "The IRGC has a responsibility to deal with the threefold threats of hard, semi-hard, and soft. The threat of cultural infiltration is an example of soft warfare and the IRGC must take it seriously and deal with it intelligently and decisively." This newspaper quoted parts of the Supreme Leader's remarks in a meeting with IRGC commanders, stating: "One of the fundamental tasks of the IRGC is to monitor international issues solely to identify threats. Monitoring international issues, international events, and international news allows us to know what the threats are; and also monitoring domestic events in the country; therefore, the IRGC is not a passive entity sitting quietly engaged in its administrative work, but rather an aware, observant, and vigilant entity that is aware of its surroundings both in the country and internationally, looking to see where the threat exists? Against whom or against what is there a threat? Here, the individual is not the issue, but the threat exists against the revolution. Therefore, continuous monitoring must be done. The intelligence sections of the IRGC and everything related to the intelligence issues of the IRGC must be observant in this sense." The newspaper Javan emphasized that some officials "instead of appreciating and thanking" the IRGC's actions against this force "create an atmosphere," calling on these responsible officials to "instead of looking at national interests through a narrow factional lens, observe the realities, see the threats, and join those who are on the front lines combating various threats and fighting the enemies." Criticism of "promoting violence" in some media Mohammad Taghi Fazel Meybodi, a member of the Society of Researchers and Teachers of Qom Seminary, also wrote in an editorial in Shargh titled "Islamic Consensus for Abhorrence of Terrorism," stating: "The horrific crime that occurred in Paris sent more than 130 people to their deaths and injured hundreds of others. Previously, a similar incident in Beirut caused the deaths of many innocent people, and the explosion of a plane traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to Moscow claimed hundreds of lives, victims of the hatred of a group of fanatic terrorists." The editorial writer of Shargh expressed regret over the behavior of some media in Iran regarding the Paris terrorist attacks without naming them, writing: "Unfortunately, some media have addressed this unfortunate event in a way that suggests these killings must happen for the West to come to its senses. Regardless of the fact that this way of acting promotes violence, it is far from our Islamic and Iranian culture and will increase the disgust of the Iranian people towards all forms of extremism." Mohammad Taghi Fazel Meybodi pointed out that "Islamic scholars, authorities, and muftis cannot remain indifferent to these events," writing: "The group that has claimed responsibility for these killings considers itself connected to Islam and committed to defending the religion. Unfortunately, due to negative propaganda, some people in the world believe that Islam considers such brutal killings permissible or obligatory, and as a result, Islamophobia has spread in Western countries." The editorial writer of Shargh emphasized that "Islamic scholars from every sect and group must know that no heavenly religion, especially Islam, permits violence, murder, and terrorism and prescribes the harshest punishments for those who are hostile; that is, those who take up arms and threaten people," writing: "It is appropriate for scholars of Islamic countries, especially Shia clerics and Sunni muftis, as well as teachers of religious seminaries, to unanimously condemn killings, explosions, and terrorism in the name of religion and to cleanse the compassionate image of Islam from these atrocities" and even "groups that commit killings and violence in the name of defending the religion should be declared outside the religion, and a takfir ruling should be issued against them, announcing to the world that none of these inhumane acts have religious or Islamic justification." The newspaper Shargh emphasized that "religious scholars should, based on their status and position, announce to the world that Islam is abhorrent to these killings and that these atrocities cannot have a religious aspect so that the youth do not fall into this deadly trap," writing: "The world should be told that Islam calls people to the war of ideas, not the war of individuals." Mohammad Taghi Fazel Meybodi appreciated Hassan Rouhani's message of condolence to the French government and people, stating that this message "from the position of a cleric who is the President of an Islamic country has an effective humanitarian and promotional aspect." The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz, owned by Mehrdad Bazrpash, defended its publication of the headline "Here is Dinner" alongside a photo of one of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris, stating: "Here is Dinner means enough of this killing and bloodshed. Now sit by the corpse of your compatriot and see if you can enjoy this bloody feast?" This newspaper wrote: "If the Paris incident is to serve as a lesson and the ISIS situation is to be resolved; should we be upset about the end of killing and savagery in the region?" This newspaper, close to the Steadfast Front, wrote in a note titled "Yes! Here is Dinner" that "we really did not expect that the front page of Vatan-e-Emruz on Sunday would raise questions and suspicions for some," as "the evident propositions in the photo, headline, and subheadings of the report on the terrorist events in Paris completely explain the meaning of this page arrangement" and that "Here is Dinner" is a "very bitter allusion to the West." Vatan-e-Emruz wrote: "The corpse of an innocent Frenchman is shown as the most important feature of the photo to evoke feelings of altruism and pure human emotions. Then the fundamental question and bitter allusion arise: this is your own doing. This is the dish you have been cooking for years. The bloody table you have spread in Iraq and Syria is now laid out for a few hours in Paris. If Paris has become like Syria for a few hours; Syria has been living with a bloody Friday for five years. Syria has been in a state of Friday for five years. Here is Dinner means Mr. Hollande, see your compatriot's corpse; now can you feel what the people of the Levant have been living with for five years against what kind of cannibals?" This newspaper, close to the Steadfast Front, also emphasized that "everyone knows us. We are the ones who opposed both Gaza and Lebanon," writing: "From the very first day of the Syrian crisis, we stood by Assad, and these days we congratulate and express condolences to each other over the martyrdom of our friends and loved ones in Syria and Iraq. The badge of honor in the fight against ISIS terrorism is only and exclusively worthy of the chests of Hezbollahis. The revolutionary current in Syria and Iraq is fighting against the killers of the French people." Vatan-e-Emruz wrote: "The world owes the Islamic Republic and its children, who stood alone against the Western puppies."