The Earthquake of Salary Slips

"The Earthquake of Salary Slips" is the headline of the Hemdeli newspaper, reporting that the disclosure of images of salary slips amounting to several tens of millions for some managers at the Central Insurance Organization has led to the resignation of the organization's head. According to this newspaper, following the publication of a senior manager's salary slip from March, the Court of Audit, the parliamentary oversight body, has intervened to investigate this case. After necessary reviews, it announced that "not only have these salaries been paid in the insurance sector, but this issue also extends to the salaries of some bank managers." Hemdeli noted that the Minister of Economy intervened and "on Tuesday announced in a statement that no wrongdoing had occurred." Subsequently, the Central Insurance Organization emphasized that "the payments were for back wages owed to employees for 84 months that had not been paid since 2008," stating that "the Central Insurance does not receive money from the treasury and pays employee salaries and benefits from its own revenues." Ultimately, this issue culminated in the resignation of the head of the Central Insurance on Wednesday, marking the first victim of astronomical salaries. The newspaper also called for "serious government action" regarding the payment of several tens of millions, stating: "The issue of astronomical and billion-dollar salaries arises while the government claims to be facing a budget deficit and is seeking ways to secure financial resources through price increases and the elimination of subsidies to help the country's recession." The Citizen newspaper reported that "the publication of the astronomical salaries of insurance industry managers has become the main topic for most media and social networks these days. On one hand, many people consider this publication a commendable act, while others see it as evidence of existing injustices in salary and benefits payments in other sectors. However, a more significant point raised in this area is the widespread criticism from economic critics of the government." According to this newspaper, Mohammad Ebrahim Amin, the head of the Central Insurance, who faced severe criticism, resigned on Wednesday, addressing his resignation letter to Ali Tayebnia, the Minister of Economy, stating: "I am ashamed that an incident occurred within my area of responsibility that led to widespread media attacks on the Central Insurance, yourself, and ultimately the beloved government of prudence and hope. I apologize for this to the honorable people of Iran, the insurance industry community, and especially to you personally." The Citizen newspaper emphasized that "this apology came at a time when the salary slips of these managers show that three senior managers at the Central Insurance receive 180 million tomans in salary, and one person's salary alone was 87 million tomans. Necessary loans exceeding 400 million tomans, car loans for managers, 4 million tomans in overtime, 33 million tomans in extraordinary overtime, and some other figures were also included in these slips." The Law newspaper also headlined "The Secrets of a Resignation," stating: "The news of the resignation of the head of the Central Insurance filled all the country's media, while the night before, news of his dismissal had been published in cyberspace." Karim Hemati, the media relations officer at the Central Insurance, told the Law newspaper: "The news of Mr. Amin's dismissal is pure fabrication," and the resignation of the head of the Central Bank was due to "the bad conditions imposed on him and his inability to work in such an environment." The Trust newspaper reported on its front page about "the open case of Mino Khaleqi," stating that "the fate of the Isfahan seat in the parliament remains a point of contention between the government and the Guardian Council." According to this newspaper, Hassan Rouhani, during a trip to Kerman, responded to a question about Mino Khaleqi, the third elected representative of Isfahan who faced obstacles from the Guardian Council to enter the tenth parliament, saying: "We are still not hopeless. The Ministry of Interior is also trying to prevent the precedent." The Trust newspaper simultaneously reported that the Secretary of the Guardian Council had broken his silence and defended the disqualification of Mino Khaleqi after her electoral victory, stating: "The Guardian Council's oversight is general and applies at all stages, and this action has a precedent regarding an individual whose educational credentials were found to be invalid after winning the election, leading the Guardian Council to annul the election." Ahmad Jannati stated: "Some claim that after the vote, only the parliament can approve the credentials of an unqualified individual," which contradicts the prior oversight of the Guardian Council before entering the parliament, and history shows that only one case of a credential rejection has occurred in parliament, and historically, this is a matter of transaction and exchange." The Arman newspaper also focused on the arrest of the individual responsible for publishing images attributed to Mino Khaleqi, reporting that Hamed Talebi, who is said to have managed the "Qaychi" channel on Telegram, was arrested on charges of publishing these images on Tuesday night. This newspaper referred to the arrested suspect as a "Ahmadinejad manager" and stated: "It is simplistic to consider him a journalist or a media person. Although Talebi has a history of working in conservative news agencies, including Fars, it should not be overlooked that he was also a manager in the previous government and once held the position of Public Relations Director in the Fars Governorate, with his commemorative photos with Ahmadinejad also circulating on social networks on Wednesday." The Hemdeli newspaper also wrote in its editorial: "The news of the arrest of those who published private images of Mino Khaleqi by law enforcement is good news for those who respect privacy. However, for those whose cries of their Muslim identity have deafened the heavens, it is very difficult." The Kayhan newspaper, however, defended the suspect who published images attributed to Mino Khaleqi and reacted to the arrest of "Hamed Talebi," stating: "The publication of images to confront the free system and to defend it is prohibited." Kayhan simultaneously accused Mino Khaleqi, the third elected representative of Isfahan, of "publicly removing her hijab in public places outside the country" and stated: "The arrest of the individual who published Mino Khaleqi's public images can be seen as an attempt to provide evidence for the failure of the duplicitous project of 'weakening and discrediting the Guardian Council' and prematurely ending an 'attractive diversionary discussion,' a victim of personal revenge by the Western-oriented faction and its media and politicians." The Kayhan newspaper also published a note in its editorial on Friday titled "Revolutionary Islam," reacting to Hassan Rouhani's statement during a meeting with several teachers, where he said: "Today, we must revisit Motahhari's books, and our teachers must explain to the youth that we have a revolutionary Islamic ideology and are not seeking revolutionary Islam." The author of the note emphasized that the phrase "revolutionary Islam" was a clear and explicit thought of Ayatollah Khomeini, stating: "The Islamic Revolution and revolutionary Islam are two titles of one concept, meaning, and pure truth, and there is no contradiction between these two keywords. Therefore, a revolution that is not Islamic will be eclectic, and an Islam that is not revolutionary will be stagnant." Mohammad Hossein Mohtaram, in this note, emphasized that "the enemy has realized that now what awakens nations and serves as a fundamental barrier to the execution of their evil plots and schemes is revolutionary Islam, which drives nations to action." He wrote: "We are now in another phase of reconstructing and renewing the same liberal thought that, under another guise, with the proposal of the Islamic Revolution and revolutionary Islam, and labeling revolutionary thought as extremist and radical, aims to separate Islam from the Revolution." The Jam Jam newspaper dedicated its front page to the Supreme Leader's decree for the appointment of Abdolali Aliaskari as the new head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization. The Shargh newspaper also noted that Mohammad Sarafraz, after resigning from the presidency of the Broadcasting Organization, was appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei as a "member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace," introducing Abdolali Aliaskari as a close friend of Ezzatollah Zarghami, the former head of the Broadcasting Organization and technical deputy during that period. This newspaper wrote about Aliaskari's background, stating that he has "experience as a member of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Director of the Cultural Research Foundation of Western Studies, President of the Broadcasting University, and Educational-Media Deputy of the Broadcasting Organization" and was "among the designers of cultural programs for the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council." Sadegh Zibakalam, in a note in the Law newspaper, pointed out that "Persian-language media abroad have continuously grown and attracted more audiences, managing to confront the national media with a crisis of audience," emphasizing that "regardless of why Mr. Sarafraz was removed, the main problem of the Broadcasting Organization, which is the lack of audience, remains unchanged." The Ebtikar newspaper reported with the headline "Online Sale of History" that "pieces of the Niavaran Palace are being auctioned online." This newspaper, while publishing photos of "items sold on internet sites," wrote: "The buying and selling of antiques and historical artifacts in Iran has a long history and many irregularities, but the virtual space has exacerbated these irregularities and worsened the situation," and now "the Niavaran Palace tiles have fallen under the hammer." The Hamayat newspaper, affiliated with the Prisons Organization, reported on its front page that the head of the General Inspection Organization called for "preventing dual citizenship for fleeing corrupt individuals" at the International Anti-Corruption Association's general assembly. The Sharq newspaper, on its front page, raised the question of whether "Ahmadinejad will face trial?" quoting Hassan Rouhani as saying: "The report of the committee investigating the process of seizing 2 billion dollars will be sent to the judiciary." This newspaper emphasized that "the negligence of the past" and "golden opportunity" were two keywords in the President's remarks during his provincial trip to Kerman, stating that Rouhani's reference to "negligence" in utilizing the "golden opportunity" to rescue the two billion dollars that were blocked, and "the past" also refers to "the Ahmadinejad government," according to Rouhani's statements. The Shargh newspaper dedicated its front page photo to the flooded booths of the Tehran International Book Fair at "Shahr-e Aftab," stating: "The rain flooded the book fair." The Javan newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, criticized reformist newspapers for publishing news about "the assassination attempt on Mir Mahmoud Mousavi," the brother of Mir Hossein Mousavi, stating: Following the attack with a cold weapon and the incident involving Mir Mahmoud Mousavi, "some specific newspapers tried to portray this incident beyond motives such as robbery and theft until the governor of Tehran clarified that this was not a political or security incident." Javan quoted Hossein Hashemi as saying: "I hope that with the seriousness of the responsible agencies and with the help of Mr. Mousavi and those present at the scene, the assailants will be identified and arrested as soon as possible." The Arman newspaper reported, quoting Ahmad Shojaei, the head of Iran's Legal Medicine Organization, that "last year, four thousand and twenty people committed suicide," but this number has decreased compared to 2014, when four thousand and ninety-five people committed suicide in Iran.