Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, a reformist political activist, stated in a video released on Monday, January 7, 2018, that "the government's decision to hand over petrochemicals to Motalefeh or respectable market players for its downsizing is not privatization." The story of the Motalefeh Party's involvement in Iran's petrochemical sector is not new. It began with the establishment of the Iran Investment Company, registered under number 286593, on August 20, 2006, with the declared goal of "implementing the policies of Article 44 of the Constitution." These policies were announced by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, on May 21, 2005, and were referred to as an economic revolution. The chairman of the board of the Iran Investment Company is Ali Naqi Khamoushi. This company operates in the fields of energy, transportation, technology, and commerce and is a shareholder in the Tourism Bank, but its most significant investment area is petrochemicals. The company is the main shareholder of the Iranian Petrochemical Trading Company, which has four companies inside and five companies outside the country, establishing trade offices in India, China, Germany, the UK, and Singapore.
The story of the Motalefeh Party's presence in Iran's petrochemical sector is not new. It began with the establishment of the Iran Investment Company, registered under number 286593, on August 20, 2006, with the declared goal of "implementing the policies of Article 44 of the Constitution." These policies were announced by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, on May 21, 2005, and were referred to as an economic revolution.
The chairman of the board of the Iran Investment Company is Ali Naqi Khamoushi. This company operates in the fields of energy, transportation, technology, and commerce and is a shareholder in the Tourism Bank, but its most significant investment area is petrochemicals. The company is the main shareholder of the Iranian Petrochemical Trading Company, which has four companies inside and five companies outside the country, establishing trade offices in India, China, Germany, the UK, and Singapore.
Ali Naqi Khamoushi was appointed as the head of the gas section of the Taban combined cycle power plant during its inauguration. The Iran Investment Company is also a shareholder in the "Takhte Jamshid Petrochemical Industries Company" and "Pardis Petrochemical Company" and is the main investor in the "Iranian Investment Petrochemical Company." Under the third company, there are 13 petrochemical companies: "Jam, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Zagros, Dehdasht, Gachsaran, Sadaf Asaluyeh, Ilam, Kazeroon, Mamassani, Boroujen, and Urmia." The chairman of this company is Seyyed Abolhasan Khamoushi, the younger brother of Ali Naqi, who is an experienced manager in the oil and petrochemical sector and a close associate of Bijan Zangeneh, Iran's Minister of Oil. Ali Naqi Khamoushi, as reported by Habibollah Asgaroladi, "worked in Mr. Moghadam's textile group during the revolution and received a salary." He is now one of the most famous billionaires in Iran and has been dubbed the "Godfather of Petrochemicals in Iran," standing at the helm of the Iran Investment Company along with his brother and leading 24 major petrochemical companies and 20 companies related to commerce, transportation, and petrochemical warehousing. Khamoushi, in Bahman 57 (February 1979), along with seven other market players, was selected by Ayatollah Khomeini as part of the "Imam's Selected Committee in the Chamber of Commerce," consisting mainly of figures close to the Motalefeh Party, such as Habibollah Asgaroladi, Aladdin Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, and Mahmoud Mirfendereski. He served as the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce for 27 years, alongside Motalefeh market players.
Ali Naqi Khamoushi also held another responsibility during that time: overseeing the Foundation of the Oppressed, an institution whose main agenda was to confiscate the assets of the Shah, the Shah's family, and affiliates of the Shah's regime, targeting around 800 important factories in Iran.
Ali Naqi Khamoushi, as reported by Habibollah Asgaroladi, "worked in Mr. Moghadam's textile group during the revolution and received a salary." He is now one of the most famous billionaires in Iran and has been dubbed the "Godfather of Petrochemicals in Iran," standing at the helm of the Iran Investment Company along with his brother and leading 24 major petrochemical companies and 20 companies related to commerce, transportation, and petrochemical warehousing.
Khamoushi, in Bahman 57 (February 1979), along with seven other market players, was selected by Ayatollah Khomeini as part of the "Imam's Selected Committee in the Chamber of Commerce," consisting mainly of figures close to the Motalefeh Party, such as Habibollah Asgaroladi, Aladdin Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, and Mahmoud Mirfendereski. He served as the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce for 27 years, alongside Motalefeh market players.
Ali Naqi Khamoushi also held another responsibility during that time: overseeing the Foundation of the Oppressed, an institution whose main agenda was to confiscate the assets of the Shah, the Shah's family, and affiliates of the Shah's regime, targeting around 800 important factories in Iran.
The prominent role of these two was first highlighted in 2012. On February 19 of that year, the Baztab website reported that "the Iranian Investment Company, owned by several Motalefeh members and economic activists aligned with it, purchased the Petrochemical Trading Company off the stock market for about 110 billion tomans, while this amount was even less than one-tenth of the actual value of the mentioned company." The Petrochemical Trading Company was the focal point of petrochemical trade in Iran, with 90% of Iran's petrochemical products exported through this company, generating an annual turnover of 10 billion dollars. At that time, the Article 44 Commission of Parliament and many government officials opposed its transfer, but Khamoushi's influence in Ahmadinejad's government was strong enough to seize this crucial choke point. The report noted that "the market and Motalefeh factions, lacking the necessary expertise to operate in the complex petrochemical trade, obtained the highest income at the lowest cost," stating that the Iranian Investment Company formed "the largest mafia in the petrochemical industry during the tenth government." As rumors intensified, the Motalefeh Party issued a statement on February 27, 2013, stating that "the ownership of the Iranian Investment Company has no economic connection with the Motalefeh Islamic Party," but confirmed that "Ali Naqi Khamoushi was a member of the central council of the Motalefeh Islamic Party for a period."
The prominent role of these two was first highlighted in 2012. On February 19 of that year, the Baztab website reported that "the Iranian Investment Company, owned by several Motalefeh members and economic activists aligned with it, purchased the Petrochemical Trading Company off the stock market for about 110 billion tomans, while this amount was even less than one-tenth of the actual value of the mentioned company."
The Petrochemical Trading Company was the focal point of petrochemical trade in Iran, with 90% of Iran's petrochemical products exported through this company, generating an annual turnover of 10 billion dollars. At that time, the Article 44 Commission of Parliament and many government officials opposed its transfer, but Khamoushi's influence in Ahmadinejad's government was strong enough to seize this crucial choke point.
The report noted that "the market and Motalefeh factions, lacking the necessary expertise to operate in the complex petrochemical trade, obtained the highest income at the lowest cost," stating that the Iranian Investment Company formed "the largest mafia in the petrochemical industry during the tenth government." As rumors intensified, the Motalefeh Party issued a statement on February 27, 2013, stating that "the ownership of the Iranian Investment Company has no economic connection with the Motalefeh Islamic Party," but confirmed that "Ali Naqi Khamoushi was a member of the central council of the Motalefeh Islamic Party for a period."
In the continuation of these events, the Baztab website reported on April 29, 2013, that "it can be said with certainty that the real presidents of the country are figures like Babak Zanjani, the oil mafia, or Ali Naqi Khamoushi, the godfather of petrochemicals," and "no judicial or supervisory body has the ability or courage to engage with these big players and powerful mafias." The analysis of this website regarding Babak Zanjani was not entirely accurate, but it seems to remain valid regarding Ali Naqi Khamoushi. The petrochemical mafia war during that time had an interesting twist. The Fars news agency, affiliated with the IRGC, five days after the Baztab website's revelations - which was close to the Hashemi Rafsanjani faction - published an exposé titled "Arrest of the Petrochemical Sultan," stating: "One of the security agencies, by order of the judiciary, has arrested a senior manager of petrochemical product trade on charges of widespread financial abuse." Shortly thereafter, judicial officials also repeated the title "Petrochemical Sultan," and media reported that this individual was "Mohsen Ahmadian," a former government manager of the Petrochemical Trading Company, the same company that Ali Naqi Khamoushi held a majority stake in. Fars reported that one of this individual's cases involved "420 million dollars equivalent to two thousand billion tomans" and that "the dimensions of this case were much broader than the three thousand billion tomans corruption case of the Arya Group," and that they would publish supplementary reports, but it later became clear that the case mentioned was one-fifth of the figures reported by Fars. It can be cautiously said that part of the media maneuvering by Fars and judicial officials, highlighting the "Petrochemical Sultan," was aimed at sidelining the accusations against the Motalefeh Party and Ali Naqi Khamoushi. The ambiguities surrounding the "Mohsen Ahmadian" case were also significant because he, as an experienced and influential manager, moved to an important company affiliated with the Armed Forces Social Security Organization (SATA) after leaving Ali Naqi Khamoushi's company, which was considered a major competitor in the petrochemical sector for Khamoushi's faction.
The Fars news agency reported on March 6, 2013, that this individual intended to "remove" Ali Naqi Khamoushi's company from the international petrochemical product trade, "planning to concentrate and organize petrochemical product trade in a new company." In fact, the corruption case against Mohsen Ahmadian removed a significant competitor from the path of Ali Naqi Khamoushi and his brother. The Khamoushi faction did not stop there. On March 6, 2013, it was also reported that by order of the Minister of Defense, Hossein Daqiqi, the CEO of the Armed Forces Social Security Organization was dismissed. Fars reported that the reason for this dismissal was Daqiqi's collaboration with Mohsen Ahmadian. Mohsen Ahmadian was released after 18 months in custody, and media reported that "a group of current petrochemical industry managers visited him." The fate of his heavy corruption case remains unclear, fueling speculation about the internal war of the petrochemical mafia. Another internal war of the petrochemical mafia has been ongoing in recent months. Amid severe currency fluctuations in Iran, government officials and members of parliament stated that petrochemical companies, despite benefiting from government facilities and special discounts and privileges like the 4200 toman currency for production, were unwilling to inject the currency obtained from the sale and export of their products back into the domestic economy through the system controlled by the Central Bank, preferring to keep it abroad or sell it in the free market and profit from the price differences caused by currency fluctuations, which at one point reached 10,000 tomans per dollar. According to a report by Mashregh News, between April and September, these companies had 17 billion euros in exports, but only four billion euros of that was returned to the domestic economy. There was much disagreement over these figures, but when on September 8 of this year, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, stated that failing to return the currency obtained from exports is treason, it became clear that a significant financial war was underway. With increasing political and media pressure, petrochemical companies injected a larger volume of their foreign currency revenues into the market, but this economic war clearly indicated the special power of the petrochemical mafia and figures like Khamoushi in determining the financial equations of Iran's economy. The power that the Baztab website referred to in 2012 as the real president of Iran, a characterization that was exaggerated but contained some elements of truth.