Mutual Criticism of Sadegh Larijani from Rouhani Regarding Investment Conditions in Iran

One day after the Iranian President criticized the judiciary's approach to investors in Iran, the head of the judiciary criticized the repetition of 'anti-revolutionary media statements' by some individuals within the country and accused the Rouhani administration officials of not focusing 'as they should on domestic talents and people's investments.' Following the Supreme Leader's criticisms of the economic performance of Hassan Rouhani's government in his Nowruz message, President Rouhani on Saturday, April 5, directed criticisms at the judiciary regarding production and investment issues. The Iranian President stated regarding the judiciary: 'With effort and pleading, we bring someone to invest here, and suddenly someone whimsically decides to summon him for a trivial matter. It is impossible to work like this.' Now, according to IRNA news agency, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, on Tuesday, April 7, in response to the President's criticism said: 'Sometimes some strange expectations are raised. Some say the judiciary should not act based on whims and for minor violations. We do not have such a thing at all.' He added: 'If a violation is not at the level of a crime, we neither summon anyone nor will we enter the subject at all. The judiciary is not a place to summon someone out of whim, and claiming that such actions cause a lack of investment is completely incorrect.' Sadegh Larijani emphasized: 'They say the judiciary should warn someone who has committed an illegal act and plead with him. Apparently, they have confused the judiciary with other institutions. The judiciary is not a place for pleading with anyone.' Mr. Larijani also criticized individuals who, according to him, 'repeat the statements of anti-revolutionary sites and media,' adding that the judiciary 'not only does not hinder healthy and legal investment but facilitates the path for healthy investment by firmly dealing with economic offenders.' Besides the criticisms made two days ago, the Iranian President on Sunday, April 6, in the first cabinet meeting of the year 96 stated that the oversight of supervisory bodies should not interfere with executive affairs, 'because mixing oversight and execution has caused problems for production, employment, and managers in their work and prevents them from acting powerfully and strongly.' The issue of insecurity for investors has previously been raised by government officials, including Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, who stated last September: 'Whenever a discussion about potential corruption arises, sometimes summons, arrests, and actions are taken, and then we expect a resilient economy.' Despite the fact that governments in the Islamic Republic have always spoken of encouraging investments from Iranians abroad in Iran, some reports indicate that the number of arrests of dual-national Iranians is on the rise, with 11 arrests in 2016, equivalent to the total number of arrests between 2011 and 2015. The World Bank in its 2017 report on 'Business Environment' ranked Iran 120th among 190 countries in terms of conditions necessary to facilitate economic activity. The Iranian President and the head of the judiciary have publicly protested against each other multiple times and have made accusations against one another. For instance, in December 2016, the head of the judiciary accused Hassan Rouhani's campaign in the 2013 elections of receiving help from Babak Zanjani, a wealthy imprisoned businessman, and Hassan Rouhani's Twitter account called for transparency in the judiciary's accounts. After the conflict between government and judiciary officials, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic on January 8, 2017, stated that he would not comment on the conflict between the heads of the executive and judiciary branches, while also saying that 'the existence of an independent and courageous judiciary should be appreciated by all.'