Iran, March 11, 2018 – Corruption and looting is one of the main issues admitted by the media and officials from both factions in the course of factional fighting between various factions of the Iranian regime, where each of them accuses the other for vandalizing public property.
Regime officials try to outrun each other in corruption and harassment, to the point where, according to Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the Mullahs’ Expediency Council, “the authorities are more impudent than those during the time of the Shah, and audaciously loot the people’s and government’s properties.  They vandalize the treasury, more so than the Shah’s authorities, and they have acquired far more illegitimate property.” (Entekhab newspaper, March 8th 2018)
Fadhil Maybodi, from the Rohani faction, confessed to the fact that corruption has swamped the entire regime and said: “Unfortunately, financial and administrative corruption has spread everywhere, and knows no barriers. On the other hand, we have not been able to counter these behaviors and we have acted weakly in this regard. That is why we are witnessing corruption among all parties and all levels of government.” (Ruydad government website, March 8th 2018).
Hamid Reza Taraghi, one of the members of the supreme leader, Khamenei’s faction, reiterated the necessity of the Iranian parliament overseeing corruption among the authorities, and said: “After so many years, saying that there is corruption, and some official has acquired wealth in an illegitimate way, is a weakness. We should have overseen the authorities’ activities, and prevented corruption from the beginning.”
Rahim Poor Azghodi, member of the high council of Cultural Revolution, also admitted that there has been “multi-billion dollar cases of financial corruption” in the Mullahs’ regime. He acknowledged the super luxurious lives of the authorities and said: “Some authorities live in multi-billion dollar homes in the north of Tehran, and brag about justice. People close to the high ranking government officials are accused of corruption, but even after several years, no one knows what happened to their cases, and at the same time, an ordinary person whose check has bounced, is arrested at night and taken to prison.” (Mehr news agency, March 8th 2018).
Systematic corruption in the Iranian government led by the supreme leader, and the multi-billion dollar wealth of its authorities, is at a time when most Iranians are under the poverty line, their nourishment standards go lower and lower every day, and unemployment is soaring among poor sectors of the society.
Regarding fighting corruption, both factions and the media suggest a lot of remedies, but it is totally useless to expect the clerical regime of the Mullahs to fight corruption. Corruption is so deeply rooted in this regime, that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, fearful of another uprising by the people, was forced to admit to a so-called, “seven head dragon” on February 8th 2018, by saying: “People are complaining about corruption, and discrimination. This is what the people are saying. Corruption is like the seven head dragon in ancient mythology. When you cut one head off, the dragon still functions with the other 6 heads. This is how corruption is.” (Khamenei’s personal website, Feb 8, 2018).
It is the institutionalization of oppression and political discrimination that has paved the way for institutionalized corruption and bribery. The supreme leader himself, who compares corruption to a seven head dragon, has collected a mythical wealth, gained by looting the property of the Iranian people, and has thus become the symbol of political discrimination and economic corruption.
As the Persian saying goes, “a knife will not harm its own handle”. Fighting with corruption is only possible when the Mullahs’ regime is eliminated as a whole, and a legitimate popular government replaces it.