When the Supreme Leader Speaks, Who Still Listens?

-
Image
  By: Struan Stevenson Mojtaba Khamenei inherited the most powerful office in the Islamic Republic. Yet six months into his tenure, a question once considered unthinkable is surfacing in Tehran. When the Supreme Leader speaks, who still listens? For almost five decades, the answer was obvious. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini created a system in which factional warfare could rage beneath the surface, provided everyone ultimately bowed to the Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei preserved that arrangement for more than three decades. Presidents came and went. Clerics competed. The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) accumulated power. Yet one principle remained sacrosanct. The Supreme Leader had the final word. Today that principle is under strain. On August 28, Mojtaba Khamenei warned officials against creating false choices between war and negotiation, compromise and confrontation. He urged them to avoid publicizing weaknesses and declared that anything damaging social cohesion was forbidden. The mess...
Post a Comment

Major Fire Outbreak at Mahshahr Petrochemical Complex in Southwestern Iran

-

 Written by Hamideh Taati

Following an explosion and fire in the Kavoshgaran Petroleum Refining Company facilities, one of the sites of the Mahshahr Petrochemical Complex in southwestern Iran, two members of the unit were severely injured.

While confirming the incident, the official state news agency IRNA announced that the fire was extinguished and under control. It reported that two workers of this petrochemical unit were suffering from severe burns and transferred to Hajieh Narges Hospital in Mahshahr. According to IRNA, firefighters eventually managed to contain the blaze.



“The cause of the accident is being investigated by HSE experts of the Special Economic Zone Organization,” a spokesman for the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone said in an interview with IRNA.

The fire breakout and explosion in petrochemical companies and units in Iran, especially in Mahshahr economic zone is not an unprecedented case. Tondgouyan Petrochemical in Mahshahr, Ilam Petrochemical, Khark Island Petrochemical Complex, and Kangan Petroleum Refinery had already experienced similar events. In August 2021, the chemical waste warehouse of Hamour Company, located in the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Zone, had also caught fire.

The most widespread and damaging fire incident at an oil facility occurred in June last year at the Tehran oil refinery, killing one person and injuring another. While some of these cases are suspected to be intentional, another major cause of these incidents is the poor status and the worn-out equipment.

ISNA state news agency quoted Mohsen Adibi, spokesman for the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, as saying that the cause of the accident was being investigated by experts from the Special Economic Zone Organization.

This happened only three days after the IRNA news agency announced the arrest of “the perpetrators of the fire in the cars parked in the parking lot of the guest house of Rah-e Avaran Fanun Petrochemical Company in Mahshahr.”

This article was first published by ncr-iran

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When the Supreme Leader Speaks, Who Still Listens?

-
Image
  By: Struan Stevenson Mojtaba Khamenei inherited the most powerful office in the Islamic Republic. Yet six months into his tenure, a question once considered unthinkable is surfacing in Tehran. When the Supreme Leader speaks, who still listens? For almost five decades, the answer was obvious. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini created a system in which factional warfare could rage beneath the surface, provided everyone ultimately bowed to the Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei preserved that arrangement for more than three decades. Presidents came and went. Clerics competed. The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) accumulated power. Yet one principle remained sacrosanct. The Supreme Leader had the final word. Today that principle is under strain. On August 28, Mojtaba Khamenei warned officials against creating false choices between war and negotiation, compromise and confrontation. He urged them to avoid publicizing weaknesses and declared that anything damaging social cohesion was forbidden. The mess...
Read more

Iran: The Poor Tumble While the Rich Rise

-
Image
 Written by Mansoureh Galestan On Friday, January 21, Dr. Javad Safari, a retired university lecturer, committed suicide due to financial difficulties and after not receiving his pension for months.  His tragic death once again highlights how the Iranian regime’s plunder and corruption have devastated people’s lives. Meanwhile, news broke out that in November, Hojat Abdolmaleki, the regime’s Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, has “donated” 60 billion rials (roughly $1.5M USD) to a TV game show.  Abdolmaleki’s ministry controls Iran’s Social Security Organization, National Pension Organization, Social Security Investment Company (Shasta). The fate of Dr. Javad Safari, his family, and other Iranian pensioners is in the hands of the likes of Abdolmaleki. In a letter to Abdolmaleki, Ali Foroughi, the director of state-run Channel 3 TV, asked for a 480 billion rials investment for making 780 episodes of the “Square” contest. In less than 24 hours, Abdolmaleki...
Read more

Veteran War Commander Takes Over Iranian Regime Security Council

-
Image
By Hoshang Amiri Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Iranian regime, appointed Mohsen Rezaei as his representative to the Supreme National Security Council on August 9, 2026. Hours later, Iranian regime president Masoud Pezeshkian appointed him secretary of the council. Seventy-one-year-old Mohsen Rezaei was one of the founders of the IRGC Intelligence Unit before becoming commander of the Iran-Iraq War. In 1981, at the age of 27, he became commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a position he held for 16 years—the longest tenure as commander of the force. During his tenure, the IRGC’s ground, naval, and air forces were established, the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters was founded, and the IRGC evolved from a paramilitary force into military, security, and economic power. Rezaei’s name, however, is most closely associated with the Iran-Iraq War, from major operations to decisions whose human cost is still debated. Karbala-4: Defeat Under the Name of Deception Th...
Read more