300 men holding power in Iran since Islamic Revolution

Iran Focus:

A clique of 300 men with family ties have been running the Islamic Republic from the time of the 1979 Iranian revolution until present, according to a prominent university professor.

“Since the dawn of the Islamic Revolution [in 1979], about 300 men have been running the country in a family-type network”, Dr. Abbas Hoshi, a professor in Tehran’s National University [officially known as Shahid Beheshti University] said in an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency. READ MORE

“These men are at the top of the ministries and are the main barrier against any attempt to empower the private sector”, he said. “I suggest that the incoming president set up a new ministry without portfolio and send all the individuals who have been holding senior government positions through family ties for a long time to this new ministry”, Hoshi added.

Hoshi also noted that rampant bribery and corruption had led to increased social class divisions. The complete reliance on oil as the sole source of national income by successive administrations in power in Iran had contributed to economic turmoil in the country, he said.

The concentration of power in the hands of an Islamic oligarchy in Iran has been a sensitive issue and few dare to speak out about this, for fear of persecution. In April, Majlis deputy Akbar Aalami told his parliamentary colleagues that “a small political clique of about 200 men is holding sway over a society of 70 million people”.

“The elite in the Shah’s regime wore ties and bowties and fashionable suits. Now this attire has given way to men with beards, jade rings and long-sleeve shirts. The looks have changed, but the way they rule has not”, Aalami said. His comments were partially reported by the Tehran-based news agency, ISNA.

The ultra-conservative Guardian Council disqualified Aalami and more than a thousand other candidates in the recent presidential elections.

“About five million Iranians, most of them with high aptitude and abilities, have left the country and live abroad. More than 11 million Iranians are afflicted with drug addiction. There are more than 4.5 million unemployed and more than 10 million Iranians live below the poverty line”.

“But despite this poverty, there is a great deal of thrift spending and extravagant ways in the administration and corruption is eating away the foundations of the Islamic Republic”, he said.

“Iran, a country with a proud history is now known for human rights violations and terrorism”, Aalamian explained.