Corruption is a serious problem in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, being widespread, mostly in the government.

Corruption levels

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

's 2021

Corruption Perception Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...

ranks the country in 150th place out of 180 countries, on a scale where lower-ranked countries are perceived to have a more honest public sector. Iran's ranking has fallen steadily since a high of 130th in 2017. Reformists and conservatives alike – at times even the Supreme Leader – routinely criticize corruption in the government. Although a Reuters special investigation has revealed Supreme Leader Khamenei controls a massive financial empire built on property seizures worth $95 billion. Then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vouched to fight ''" economic/oil Mafia"'' at all echelons of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

. President Ahmadinejad has also proposed that lawmakers consider a bill, based on which the wealth and property of all officials who have held high governmental posts since 1979 could be investigated. Out of the $700 billion earned during the presidency of Ahmadinejad for the sale of oil, $150 billion have disappeared. Many Iranians believe the country's economic problems are a byproduct of mismanagement and corruption. On February 3, 2013, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a video tape in the Iranian parliament that tied the heads of two branches of the government, the legislative and judiciary, to a documented financial corruption case related to the Larijani brothers. One of the objectives of the Iranian revolution was to have no social classes in Iran. Yet, Iran's Department of Statistics reports that 10 million Iranians live under the absolute poverty line and 30 million live under the relative poverty line. Iranian President Rouhani has linked social ills, including poverty and homelessness, to corruption. Hossein Raghfar, an economist at Tehran's Alzahra University, has suggested that as little as 15% of Iran's economic problems can be attributed to sanctions.

Pahlavi Era

The Imperial State of Iran, the government of

during the Pahlavi dynasty, lasted from 1925 to 1979. Corruption was a serious problem during this period. Stephanie Cronin of

Oriental Institute, Oxford The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (formerly the Faculty of Oriental Studies), is a subdivision of the University of Oxford. The faculty is engaged in a broad range of research and teaching on modern and historical Asian and Middl ...

, describes corruption under the rule of

Reza Shah , , spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort) Turan Amirsoleimani Esmat Dowlatshahi , issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess Shams Mohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza P ...

as "large-scale". As oil prices rose in 1973, the scale of corruption also rose, particularly among the royal family, their partners and friends. According to Manouchehr Ganji who created a study group for

Farah Pahlavi Farah Pahlavi ( fa, فرح پهلوی, née Farah Diba ( fa, فرح دیبا, label=none); born 14 October 1938) is the widow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and was successively Queen and Empress ('' Shahbanu'') of Iran fro ...

, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was not sensitive to the issue, but addressed every now and then petty matters of low-ranking officials. As Ganji writes, the group submitted at least 30 solid reports within 13 years on corruption of high-ranking officials and the royal circle, but the Shah called the reports "false rumors and fabrications".

Parviz Sabeti Parviz Sabeti (Persian: پرویز ثابتی; born March 25, 1936 Sang-e Sar) is an Iranian lawyer, former SAVAK deputy under the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Born in Sang-e Sar, Semnan Province. Sabeti received a law degree from the Un ...

, a high-ranking official of SAVAK believed that the one important reason for the success of the regime's opposition is corruption. According to a report of a journal associated with

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...

, "By 1977 the sheer scale of corruption had reached a boiling point.... Even conservative estimates indicate that such ureaucraticcorruption involved at least a billion dollars between 1973 and 1976." In Michel Foucault's view, corruption was the "glue" that kept the Pahlavi regime, despotism and modernization together. After the revolution, the

Central Bank of Iran The Central Bank of Iran (CBI), also known as ''Bank Markazi'', officially the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, بانک مرکزی جمهوری اسلامی ايران, Bank Markazi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān; SWIFT Code: B ...

published a list of 178 prominent individuals who had recently transferred over $2 billion out of the country, among them: *

Jafar Sharif-Emami Jafar Sharif-Imami ( fa, جعفر شریف‌امامی; 17 June 1912 – 16 June 1998) was an Iranian politician who was prime minister from 1960 to 1961 and again in 1978. He was a cabinet minister, president of the Iranian Senate, president ...

, some $31 million *

Gholam Ali Oveisi Arteshbod Gholam-Ali Oveissi ( fa, غلامعلی اویسی‎; 16 April 1918 – 7 February 1984) was an Iranian general and the Chief Commander of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was the last general to he ...

, $15 million *Namazi, $9 million, * Nasser Moghadam, $2 million *"

Mayor of Tehran The Mayor of Tehran is an elected politician who, along with the City Council of 21 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Tehran. Since 2 September 2021, Alireza Zakani is the mayor of Tehran. Previously, the position was held b ...

", $6 million *"

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

", $7 million *"Director of the

National Iranian Oil Company The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; fa, شرکت ملّی نفت ایران, Sherkat-e Melli-ye Naft-e Īrān) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Ir ...

", over $60 million

Corruption among the Royal family and court

Built up by forced sales and

confiscation Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, o ...

s of estates,

was "the richest man in Iran" and "left to his heir a bank account of some 3 million pounds and estates totalling over 3 million acres. A 1932 report of British Embassy in Tehran indicates that

developed an "unholy interest in land" and jailed families until they agreed to sell their properties. In the 1950s, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi founded Pahlavi Foundation (now Alavi Foundation) which "penetrated almost every corner of the nation's economy".Abrahamian (1982), pp. 437-438 Bostock and Jones unambiguously declared that Pahlavi Foundation a "nominally charitable foundation fostered official

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

". According to

Houchang Chehabi Houchang Esfandiar Chehabi is a scholar of Iranian studies at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University where he is Professor of International Relations and History. Chehabi is Iranian-German and was born in Tehran ...

and

Juan Linz ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, Alavi foundation's $1.05 billion assets, $81 million capital and its declared devined $4.2 million was the "

tip of the iceberg Tip of the iceberg may refer to: * Tip of the iceberg, the top tenth portion of an iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water ...

of official and dynastical corruption, outside and inside Iran".Chehabi and Linz, p. 199 The foundation, which was one of his main wealth sources alongside estates left from

and

Iran's oil Iran is an energy superpower and the petroleum industry in Iran plays an important part in it. In 2004, Iran produced 5.1 percent of the world's total crude oil ( per day), which generated revenues of US$25 billion to US$30 billion and was th ...

revenue, was a

tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

for his holdings. Many members of the Pahlavi clan were among the chief perpetrators of corruption in Iran.

Royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

was described as "center of licentiousness and depravity, of

and

influence peddling Influence peddling is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. It is also called traffic of influence or trading i ...

" in a mid-1970s

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

report. Prime Minister

Amir Abbas Hoveyda Amir-Abbas Hoveyda ( fa, امیرعباس هویدا, Amīr 'Abbās Hoveyda; 18 February 1919 – 7 April 1979) was an Iranian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran from 27 January 1965 to 7 August 1977. He was the l ...

who served from 1965 to 1977 had no choice but to facilitate or condone "the ubiquitous corruption of the Pahlavi Clan" and ignore "the corruption that saturated the regime". In 1960, there were rumours that Princess Ashraf, Shah's twin sister was arrested in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

carrying a suitcase containing $2 million worth of

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

. She was regarded as Iran's main drug dealer until 1979. A 1976

report declared that she has a "near legendary reputation for financial

" and her son Shahram controls some-twenty companies that serve as "

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

for Ashraf's quasi-legal business ventures". Prince Hamid Reza, the Shah's half-brother, was ostracized from the royal family because of his widespread scandals of promiscuity, addiction and involvement in drug trade. According to

William Shawcross William Hartley Hume Shawcross (born 28 May 1946, in Sussex, England) is a British writer and commentator, and a former Chairman of the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Education Shawcross was educated at St Aubyns Preparatory School ...

, hundreds of

call girl A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...

s from

Madame Claude Fernande Grudet (6 July 1923 – 15 December 2015), also known as Madame Claude, was a French brothel keeper. In the 1960s, she was the head of a French network of call girls who worked especially for dignitaries and civil servants. Biograp ...

's establishment in Paris passed through Tehran for

Mohammad Reza Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( fa, محمدرضا پهلوی, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (), was the last ''Shah'' (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Irani ...

and members of his court.

Impact on the 1979 revolution

Some scholars have raised the point that widespread corruption among officials and

royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

led to the public dissatisfaction and helped the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. In ''Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management'', the Pahlavi dynasty is described as an example of governments losing

legitimation Legitimation or legitimisation is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within a given society. It ...

because of

and facing a

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

crisis as a result. According to Fakhreddin Azimi, Professor of History at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

, "the unbridled misconduct of the Pahlavi clan undermined the Shah's proclaimed commitment to combating corruption and seriously damaged his credibility and Stature". Right before the revolution, in a 1978 National TV appeal to the nation, Shah said :

''I pledge that past mistakes, lawlessness, injustice, and
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
will not only no longer be repeated, but will in every respect be rectified... I guarantee that in future the government in Iran will be based on the Constitution, social justice, and the will of the people, and will be free from despotism, injustice, and
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
.''

On the other hand,

Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

repeatedly argued that the only way to eliminate corruption was through a

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

.Abrhamian (1982), p. 478

References

Abbas Milani Abbas Malekzadeh Milani ( fa, عباس ملک‌زاده میلانی; born 1949) is an Iranian-American historian, educator, and author. Milani is a visiting professor of Political Science, and the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of the Ira ...

. ''Eminent Persians'',

Syracuse University Press Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. History SUP was formed in August 1943 when president William P. Tolley prom ...

, 2008, *Stephanie Cronin. ''The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921-1941'',

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, 2012, *

. ''The Shah's Last Ride'',

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 1989, *Ali Farazmand. ''Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management''.

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information tec ...

, 2001, *

Ervand Abrahamian Ervand Abrahamian; hy, Երուանդ Աբրահամեան (born 1940) is an Iranian-American historian of the Middle East. He is Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Graduate Center of the City Un ...

. ''Iran Between Two Revolutions''.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

, 1982, *

. ''A History of Modern Iran'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 2008, *Fakhreddin Azimi. ''Quest for democracy in Iran: a century of struggle against authoritarian rule''.

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 2009, *Richard Morrock. ''The Psychology of Genocide and Violent Oppression: A Study of Mass Cruelty from Nazi Germany to Rwanda''.

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its former ...

, 2010, * Manouchehr Ganji, ''Defying the Iranian Revolution: From a Minister to the Shah to a Leader of Resistance'',

Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

, 2002, *''The Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopedia of the World of Islam''. Edited by Gholamali Haddad Adel, Mohammad Jafar Elmi, Hassan Taromi-Rad. EWI Press, 2012, * Houchang E. Chehabi, Juan J. Linz. ''Sultanistic Regimes'',

Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

, 1998, *

Sandra Mackey Sandra Mackey (''née'' Sherman; September 13, 1937 – April 19, 2015) was an American writer on Middle Eastern culture and politics. Early life and education Mackey was born Sandra Sherman in Oklahoma City, the daughter of funeral directors Velt ...

. ''The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation'',

Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initial ...

, 1996, *Desmond Harney. ''The Priest and the King: An Eyewitness Account of the Iranian Revolution'',

I.B. Tauris I.B. Tauris is an educational publishing house and imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It was an independent publishing house with offices in London and New York City until its purchase in May 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing. It specialises in non ...

, 1999, *

Janet Afary Janet Afary is an author, feminist activist and researcher of history, religious studies and women studies. She is a professor and the Mellichamp Chair in Global Religion and Modernity at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Care ...

and Kevin B. Anderson. ''Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism'',

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

, 2010, *Mohammad Gholi Majd. ''Resistance to the Shah: Landowners and Ulama in Iran'',

University Press of Florida The University Press of Florida (UPF) is the scholarly publishing arm of the State University System of Florida, representing Florida's twelve state universities. It is located in Gainesville near the University of Florida, one of the state's maj ...

, 2000, {{Pahlavi Dynasty Politics of Iran

Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Corruption levels

Pahlavi Era

Corruption among the Royal family and court

Impact on the 1979 revolution

See also

References