Rouhani Admits Corruption in State-Built Homes Destroyed by Quake

Survivors of the earthquake warm themselves in front of destroyed buildings at the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran (AP)
Survivors of the earthquake warm themselves in front of destroyed buildings at the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran (AP)
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Rouhani Admits Corruption in State-Built Homes Destroyed by Quake

Survivors of the earthquake warm themselves in front of destroyed buildings at the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran (AP)
Survivors of the earthquake warm themselves in front of destroyed buildings at the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran (AP)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has admitted that there have been corrupt practices in state-built homes in western Iran as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei discussed with top officials the aftermath of Sunday’s earthquake.

Khamenei met on Wednesday with Rouhani and several other officials. Iranian media have not reported the results of the meeting but the supreme leader ordered the government and armed forces to mobilize "all their means.”

The 7.3-magnitude quake struck Iran's western province of Kermanshah near the border with Iraq, killing more than 400 people and leaving 9,500 injured, the German News Agency (dpa) reported.

That a house built by (ordinary) people in the Sarpol-e Zahab region has remained standing while in front of it a government-built building has collapsed is a sign of corruption," Rouhani told a cabinet meeting, state media said.

"It's clear there has been corruption in construction contracts," he said.

Rouhani said any shortcomings in government constructed buildings in the earthquake zone will be punished.

Some of the houses which collapsed in the earthquake were built under an affordable housing scheme initiated in 2011 by Rouhani's predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi, the prosecutor general in Kermanshah, the largest city in the earthquake zone, said that the quality of construction of new buildings that were heavily damaged would be investigated and charges may be brought against anyone deemed responsible.

"If there are any problems with the construction, the individuals who were negligent must answer for their deeds," Sadeghi said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).

The quake is estimated to have caused damage worth 26,000 billion Iranian rials (about $6.3 billion), Kermanshah provincial deputy governor Mojtaba Nikkerdar said, quoted by ISNA.

That is equivalent to about 1.5 percent of the Iranian gross domestic product (GDP) which the International Monetary Fund has forecast for 2017, Agence France Presse said.

In total, about 30,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, Iranian authorities say.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told lawmakers that the authorities had sent 36,000 tents and another 10,000 would follow for families too fearful of aftershocks to sleep in their own homes, ISNA reported.

The cabinet approved a series of measures including interest-free loans and donations to affected households to replace their destroyed furniture or other belongings.



Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, during which Pyongyang reaffirmed its support for Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, the TASS state news agency reported.

Lavrov flew out of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday following the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, arriving the same day in Wonsan, North Korea, home to a newly opened seaside resort but also known for its missile and naval facilities, reported Reuters.

Lavrov's visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries as they upgrade their strategic cooperation to now include a mutual defense pact.

"We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis ... Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces," TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine.

North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago.

Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov's arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

TASS said the new Wonsan coastal resort could boost Russian tourism to North Korea, citing the resumption of direct trains from Moscow to Pyongyang and a project to build a bridge across the Tumen River forming part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia.

TASS quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying more high-level delegations would visit North Korea later this year.

Rudenko said the accord on strategic partnership "clearly meets the changing needs over recent decades and strengthens traditionally friendly, good-neighborly Russian-Korean relations to a qualitatively new level as allies."