Iran’s Government Continues Pressure On Chambers Of Commerce

The recently elected chairman of Iran's chamber of commerce, who is being challenged by hardliners and the government, has denied reports about his resignation.

On June 26, the official news agency IRNA claimed that Hossein Selahvarzi had resigned from chairmanship of the chamber but he denied his resignation in a tweet.

“The government’s official news agency has either been hacked or become a toy in the hands of some individuals," he wrote. "They may, as they have done many times, eventually remove the news item from their feed."

Iranian journalist Saba Azarpeik reported on July 1 that Selahvarzi was barred by the ministry of industries, mines and commerce, on orders from the intelligence ministry, from participating in a conference celebrating the National Industries and Mines Day.

Azarpeik is one of Selahvarzi’s critics and has made allegations of corruption against him, claiming "Selahvarzi caused damage to the interests of 500 businessmen [who are members of the chamber]” . 

"The government’s stance regarding the elections of the chamber of commerce is the same as the stance of supervisory [security] bodies,” said Ehsan Khandouzi, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and the government’s economic spokesman.  

On July 4, the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) published an image of a handwritten letter which appeared to have been written by Selahvarzai to the chamber’s board to resign.

Selahvarzi on Tuesday again denied his resignation in a tweet and said he is carrying out his duties as chairman. He added that the letter lacked “legal status” and promised to make “detailed revelations” about the matter on July 9.

In elections held on June 18, Salahvarzi, a businessman who has been an outspoken critic of the government, was elected as chairman. One of the two candidates who ran against Salahvarzi, Younes Zhaeleh, is known to have close ties with the government.

Salahvarzi obtained 265 votes against 95 votes for Zhaeleh and 62 votes for Hossein Pir-Moazzen.

The chairman of the chamber, often referred to as the “private sector’s parliament” with over 400 members, has the role of coordinating between the private sector and government and is sometimes required to participate in meetings with government officials.

Members of the chamber have often criticized regime policies that have led to an economic crisis, including a confrontational foreign policy. The chambers often produce economic reports that the government finds embarrassing, or they criticize proposed budget bills and other plans.

“Chairmanship of the chamber of commerce is not an official position in the Islamic Republic. The chamber is a non-governmental and non-state body and represents the private sector,” Abdolreza Davari, one of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's advisors and confidants, said in a tweet Tuesday, calling “politically-motivated interference” in chamber of commerce elections by the state “a dangerous phenomenon”. “The affairs of the chamber of commerce should be decided and regulated by the members of the chamber itself,” he added.

A few days after Selahvarzi’s election, around 30 hardliner lawmakers had urged the government to annul the elections.

According to the reformist Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), 70 lawmakers have written a letter to Abbas Aliabadi, minister of industries, mines and commerce asking him to endorse the elections and prevent “illegal interferences that will have no outcome other than harming production and employment”.

Rouhollah Izadkhah, a hardliner lawmaker, has claimed that the letter of support has been forged because the parliament has been in summer recess in the past week.