Dissident Group Exposes Iran’s Regime Corruption, Military Monopolization and Administrative Failures

iran majlis parliament fight (1)
Three-minute read
Written by
Mahmoud Hakamian

The security and stability of the Iranian regime, which strives to present itself as the region’s formidable power, have once again been undermined by the seizure of 600 servers of its parliamentary system. This incident has become a subject of discussion both domestically and internationally. The GhiamSarnegouni (Persian for Rise to Overthrow) dissident group has publicly disclosed documents indicating that members of the parliament have effectively been excluded from the country’s decision-making process. Instead, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of the Parliament, whose corruption scandals were widely known, has now become a facilitator for Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at the regime’s legislative arm.

One of the most revealing parts of these documents is the disclosure of the special budget allocated to the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. General Mohammad Baqeri, Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces, writes that in the previous year’s budget, 7.7 trillion tomans were allocated to the Quds Force. He requested Ghalibaf to separately add this amount to the Revolutionary Guards’ budget. As a result of these communications between Baqeri and Ghalibaf, the budget for the armed forces increased to over 138 trillion tomans. With the addition of the special budget for the Quds Force, it reached an astronomical amount of 145 trillion tomans.

This marks the first time that the Quds Force’s budget has been made public. This institution, which has been involved in large-scale corruption and money laundering schemes for years, has diverted billions of tomans from the public budget to pursue Khamenei’s power-driven policies aimed at destabilizing the region.

In a confidential letter dated February 21, 2023, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces requested a separate budget allocation for the Intelligence Protection Organization of the ّIRGC. The letter emphasized that the security division of the IRGC is tasked with addressing intelligence gaps within the organization and requires dedicated funding and protection.

iran budget protection intelligence file 1 iran budget protection intelligence file 2
One of the disclosed documents reveals a letter written by Gholamreza Jalali, the head of the Passive Defense Organization, to Ghalibaf. The letter issues a warning that repeated alerts to the Atomic Energy Organization regarding the fortification of nuclear sites and facilities have not been heeded, leaving them vulnerable. For instance, it is emphasized that “some nuclear facilities have been constructed in inappropriate locations. The Isfahan reactor, the construction of the propulsion reactor within the highly hazardous and sensitive Tehran compound, and the construction of the Tetra Center in the Tehran compound have not received attention.” Additionally, it is highlighted that “spent fuel from previous years in the Tehran research reactor remains in the densely populated urban fabric of the capital.” Jalali warns in the letter that there are vulnerabilities in nuclear facilities that could lead to any kind of incident, yet these issues have not been addressed by the regime’s Atomic Energy Organization.

iran nuclear agency safety measures file 1 iran nuclear agency safety measures file 2
Other documents disclosed during the seizure of the parliament’s servers indicate that the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council had predicted sabotage and disruption in the gas pipeline in a letter to Khamenei and Raisi on November 27, 2023. The letter warns about gas imbalance and the gap between production and consumption, citing factors such as cyber threats, labor strikes, and sabotage in the energy network as reasons that could jeopardize energy security.

It’s worth noting that some state-run media outlets have also been reporting about events within the parliament, referring to documents leaked by this dissident group. In a detailed report, the website Ruydad 24 wrote, “The hacking group claims to have released a letter from Gholamreza Jalali, the head of the Passive Defense Organization, to Qalibaf, criticizing the failure to follow standard protection measures for atomic sites. The parliament has been urged to oversee the implementation of these measures. One part of the letter mentions that ‘spent fuel from previous years in the Tehran research reactor’ is still present in the densely populated urban areas of the capital. Another part mentions that ‘two nuclear facilities’ were supposed to be moved to a secure location as per the Leader’s directive, but this hasn’t happened.”

Back to top button