The Afrashtehpour Brothers: Iranian Businessmen With a Vested Interest in ‘Spoiling’ a Nuclear R
To many international observers, the sanctions against Iran's nuclear program appear to be taking a serious toll on the standard of living for the average Iranian. While this is undoubtedly true for a significant portion of the Iranian population - there is widespread evidence sanctions have restricted the country's access medical supplies and other vital goods - other Iranians have identified a golden opportunity to capitalise on the country's isolation.
Quoted in IranWire on the 6 January 2014, a 45-year-old Iranian physician highlighted this dichotomy, describing as €surreal€ an occasion on which he had to explain to his diabetic patients that the lack of access to mechanical parts meant dialysis was unavailable to them, after which he bumped into an imported Porsche on his walk home. His experience tells that while most of the country struggles to obtain vital daily goods, others are profiting - and on a massive scale.
According to an Iranian businessman who claims to have ties to some of those taking advantage of Iran's political isolation, the profits from illegal imports run to the millions and billions of Euros.
Iranians with family abroad are often bribed into facilitating transfers via foreign bank accounts, seduced by the prospect of earning as much as $50,000 on just one transaction.
The Iranian government openly acknowledges these deals and actively appreciates them. After all, they sustain a much-needed flow of currency into the country and facilitate the government's payment of its overheads. The regime is widely understood to have been complicit in assisting private companies in their illegal import and export of sanctioned commodities and the profits have been sizeable for all parties involved.
While the majority of Iranians celebrated the Geneva Accord interim nuclear deal last November, those benefiting from the opportunity sanctions create mourned the agreement and its potential to erode their billion dollar profits. An advisor close to the cabinet quoted in Iranwire stated, €The interests generated by sanctions are motivating some groups to sabotage any rapprochement.€ Interest groups representing businesses with a vested interest in sustaining the sanctions program are reportedly seeking to €spoil' efforts to negotiate a long term nuclear deal, undermining the government's ability to make and enforce policy conducive with its national and international interests.
One of the figures benefiting from the strict sanctions and the instability of the Iranian economy is Hassan Afrashtehpour. He and his brother Davoud are well known Iranian real estate developers with links to a commodity import company called Tejarat Aria Gostar Iranian Navid Co.
In September of 2006 the Afrashtepour brothers were implicated in embezzlement and corruption scandal after receiving $60 million kept in accounts outside of the country intended to import goods into Iran. Then in May of 2010, an unnamed brother was tied to the illegal import of mobile phones from Dubai, linking him to the notorious Akbar Khoshkush, known primarily for his involvement in the 1988-1998 Iranian Chain Murders. Khoshkush has known links to the IRGC as well as a variety of highly profitable underground business dealings, primarily imports.
However, despite the political power wielded by private wealth in Iran, President Rouhani appears committed to attempting to reach a negotiated political settlement with the P5+1 on the nuclear issue, before the timeframe laid out in the interim Geneva Accord expires.
Quoted in IranWire on the 6 January 2014, a 45-year-old Iranian physician highlighted this dichotomy, describing as €surreal€ an occasion on which he had to explain to his diabetic patients that the lack of access to mechanical parts meant dialysis was unavailable to them, after which he bumped into an imported Porsche on his walk home. His experience tells that while most of the country struggles to obtain vital daily goods, others are profiting - and on a massive scale.
According to an Iranian businessman who claims to have ties to some of those taking advantage of Iran's political isolation, the profits from illegal imports run to the millions and billions of Euros.
Iranians with family abroad are often bribed into facilitating transfers via foreign bank accounts, seduced by the prospect of earning as much as $50,000 on just one transaction.
The Iranian government openly acknowledges these deals and actively appreciates them. After all, they sustain a much-needed flow of currency into the country and facilitate the government's payment of its overheads. The regime is widely understood to have been complicit in assisting private companies in their illegal import and export of sanctioned commodities and the profits have been sizeable for all parties involved.
While the majority of Iranians celebrated the Geneva Accord interim nuclear deal last November, those benefiting from the opportunity sanctions create mourned the agreement and its potential to erode their billion dollar profits. An advisor close to the cabinet quoted in Iranwire stated, €The interests generated by sanctions are motivating some groups to sabotage any rapprochement.€ Interest groups representing businesses with a vested interest in sustaining the sanctions program are reportedly seeking to €spoil' efforts to negotiate a long term nuclear deal, undermining the government's ability to make and enforce policy conducive with its national and international interests.
One of the figures benefiting from the strict sanctions and the instability of the Iranian economy is Hassan Afrashtehpour. He and his brother Davoud are well known Iranian real estate developers with links to a commodity import company called Tejarat Aria Gostar Iranian Navid Co.
In September of 2006 the Afrashtepour brothers were implicated in embezzlement and corruption scandal after receiving $60 million kept in accounts outside of the country intended to import goods into Iran. Then in May of 2010, an unnamed brother was tied to the illegal import of mobile phones from Dubai, linking him to the notorious Akbar Khoshkush, known primarily for his involvement in the 1988-1998 Iranian Chain Murders. Khoshkush has known links to the IRGC as well as a variety of highly profitable underground business dealings, primarily imports.
However, despite the political power wielded by private wealth in Iran, President Rouhani appears committed to attempting to reach a negotiated political settlement with the P5+1 on the nuclear issue, before the timeframe laid out in the interim Geneva Accord expires.
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