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Leaked Audio Sheds Light on IRGC Corruption, Mobilizes Parliament

Qassim Soleimani and Mohammed-Ali Jafari at an IRGC event (File photo: ISNA)
Qassim Soleimani and Mohammed-Ali Jafari at an IRGC event (File photo: ISNA)
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Leaked Audio Sheds Light on IRGC Corruption, Mobilizes Parliament

Qassim Soleimani and Mohammed-Ali Jafari at an IRGC event (File photo: ISNA)
Qassim Soleimani and Mohammed-Ali Jafari at an IRGC event (File photo: ISNA)

Iranian lawmakers and local newspapers weighed in on the newly-leaked audio of top Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders discussing financial corruption and disputes between the top officials.

Last Thursday, Farda Radio published a 50-minute audio file of a secret meeting between the former IRGC commander, Mohammed-Ali Jafari, and his economic affairs deputy Sadegh Zolghadr in 2018.

The two officials discussed corruption cases involving IRGC's al-Quds Force and Cooperative Foundation.

Fars Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, confirmed the leaked recording, saying it will release "more accurate information" on the case.

Jafari chaired the IRGC for ten years before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a decree appointing Hossein Salami in April 2019.

Jafari and Zolghadr discussed the role of Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and the former mayor in the corruption case of Yas Holding Company, one of the most prominent companies of the Cooperative Foundation.

The two officials also discussed the embezzlement of 8,000 billion tomans, which Jafari said embarrassed Qassim Soleimani, former chief of al-Quds Force, who was assassinated by the US in January 2020.

The audio file also addressed the role of the Chief of the IRGC Intelligence Organization Hossein Taeb and IRGC Coordination Deputy Jamaloddin Aberoumand, Qalibaf's parliamentary assistant.

Reformist Shargh newspaper quoted an unnamed informed source who said that the file was published three years ago by BBC Persian, adding that it is not a new issue and the persons involved in the case were brought before the court.

The newspaper questioned whether the new audio was a "discovery" or a "leak" of information, referring to former leaks, including the audio of former Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and file of former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy parliamentary committee MP Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini said that the committee intends to discuss the audio.

He told the ILNA news agency that "it is a bitter reality," but the authorities must accept that there is a leak, which is hard to determine, but not impossible.

Meshkini said he heard the audio several times, but the "haters could not achieve what they wanted," adding that the enemy cannot harm the IRGC's popularity with this psychological war.

Member of the Economic Committee MP Mojtaba Tavangar accused the foreign media of attacking the regime and people's security.

"If some people try to use this audio file, they are inadvertently or deliberately spreading propaganda against the regime and completing the enemies' attack on IRGC," Tavangar told the state-run ISNA news agency.

The MP admitted that transgressions are not surprising in any entity, but most importantly, they should be identified and treated, and offenders should be punished.

The lawmaker called for a "decisive and frank review" of the case, saying a judgment was issued regarding the violations, still a large part of the allegations are false.

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World

European Military Mission Set to Begin in Greenland

(FILES) Protesters attend a march to the US consulate during a demonstration, under the slogan 'Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people', in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Christian Klindt Soelbeck / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)
(FILES) Protesters attend a march to the US consulate during a demonstration, under the slogan 'Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people', in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Christian Klindt Soelbeck / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)
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European Military Mission Set to Begin in Greenland

(FILES) Protesters attend a march to the US consulate during a demonstration, under the slogan 'Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people', in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Christian Klindt Soelbeck / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)
(FILES) Protesters attend a march to the US consulate during a demonstration, under the slogan 'Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people', in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Christian Klindt Soelbeck / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

European military personnel were due to begin arriving in Greenland on Thursday, shortly after a meeting between American, Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington failed to resolve "fundamental disagreement" over the mineral-rich, strategic Arctic island.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to take control of the autonomous Danish territory, arguing that it is vital for US security, reported AFP.

France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland's capital Nuuk.

"Soldiers of NATO are expected to be more present in Greenland from today and in the coming days. It is expected that there will be more military flights and ships," Greenland's deputy prime minister Mute Egede told a news conference on Wednesday, adding they would be "training".

"The first French military personnel are already on their way. Others will follow," French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.

The deployment of a 13-strong Bundeswehr reconnaissance team to Nuuk from Thursday was at Denmark's invitation, the German defense ministry said, adding it would run from Thursday to Sunday.

The deployment was announced on the same day that the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was "absolutely not necessary."

"We didn't manage to change the American position. It's clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland," Lokke told reporters.

"We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree."

Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark's interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.

"I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we'll see how it all works out. I think something will work out," Trump said without explaining further.

He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: "There's everything we can do."

Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland after ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed President Nicolas Maduro.

On the streets of Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity this week.

Some residents described anxiety from finding themselves at the center of the geopolitical spotlight.

"It's very frightening because it's such a big thing," said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk.

"I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed," Stidsen told AFP.

World

Russia Expels UK Diplomat Accused of Being Spy

A car of the British ambassador drives out of the embassy in Moscow, Russia [File: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
A car of the British ambassador drives out of the embassy in Moscow, Russia [File: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
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Russia Expels UK Diplomat Accused of Being Spy

A car of the British ambassador drives out of the embassy in Moscow, Russia [File: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
A car of the British ambassador drives out of the embassy in Moscow, Russia [File: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]

Russia said Thursday it was expelling a British diplomat, calling him an undercover spy in the latest espionage accusation between Moscow and London.
The Kremlin has long singled out Britain as one of the most hostile Western states -- with relations virtually frozen even before Moscow's full-scale offensive on Ukraine.
The two countries have expelled each others' embassy staff several times in recent years, AFP said.
Moscow-London ties have been plagued by spy allegations for decades and were already at their lowest point before Russia's 2022 Ukraine attack.
Since then, Britain became one of Kyiv's strongest backers.
Russia's FSB security service named the man it was expelling as Gareth Samuel Davies -- listed on Moscow's official database of accredited diplomats as the embassy's second secretary.
Russia's foreign ministry summoned the UK's charge d'affaires, saying it issued a "strong protest" and that it had received information that "one of the embassy's diplomatic staff belongs to the UK's intelligence service."
"The individual's accreditation is being revoked. He is required to leave the Russian Federation within two weeks," the ministry said.
Expulsions by one side have typically been followed up by a tit-for-tat response from the other.
Russia warned Britain not to "escalate the situation", pledging to deliver a "firm symmetrical response," should London retaliate.
The UK has not yet commented on the accusation.
- Frozen ties -
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has hosted Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for talks on how to end the war with Russia several times and is one of the Kremlin's most vocal critics.
This month, Britain and France signed a declaration of intent that sets out deploying troops on Ukrainian territory after a ceasefire.
Russia rejected the post-war plan, saying such troops would be considered "legitimate military targets."
Moscow also recently blasted London for being involved in the planning of a US operation to seize a Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic.
Espionage accusations between the two countries date back far further than the Ukraine offensive.
In 2006, Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London, poisoned by polonium in what British investigators said was a hit by the Russian secret service.
And in 2018, the UK said Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in the British cathedral city of Salisbury.
One member of the public was killed after handling the delivery device, a discarded perfume bottle, triggering the largest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats, alleged to be spies, in decades.
The communication line between Downing Street and the Kremlin has been closed since Russia's offensive.
The last UK leader known to have spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin was Boris Johnson in February 2022, days before Moscow launched its offensive, when he told the Kremlin chief that sending troops to Ukraine "would be a tragic miscalculation."

World

Trump Says Iran Killings Stopped

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Trump Says Iran Killings Stopped

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had been told the killings of protesters in Iran had been halted, but added that he would "watch it and see" about threatened military action.

Trump had repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on protests that rights groups say has left at least 3,428 people dead, AFP said.

But in a surprise announcement at the White House, Trump said he had now received assurances from "very important sources on the other side" that Tehran had now stopped, and that executions would not go ahead.

"They've said the killing has stopped and the executions won't take place -- there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won't take place -- and we're going to find out," Trump said.

He offered no details and noted that the United States had yet to verify the claims.

Asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office if US military action was now off the table, Trump replied: "We're going to watch it and see what the process is."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said there would be "no hanging today or tomorrow," in an interview with US network Fox News, while accusing Israel of orchestrating violence, without providing evidence.

Araghchi contends the peaceful protests about economic hardship that began December 28 devolved into widespread violence between January 7 and 10 because the protests were infiltrated by external "elements who had a plan to create a big number of killings in order to provoke President Trump to enter into this conflict and start a new war against Iran."

Iran's Minister of Justice Amin Hossein Rahimi echoed that allegation, telling state news agencies that after January 7, "those weren't protests any longer" and anyone who was arrested on the streets then "was definitely a criminal."

A rights group said separately that the execution of an Iranian man arrested during the wave of protests, 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, would not take place as scheduled on Wednesday, citing relatives.

Late Wednesday, UN leadership announced a meeting of the Security Council Thursday for "a briefing on the situation in Iran," as requested by the United States.

Trump's comments sent oil prices plunging on Thursday morning, as concerns eased of a looming supply shock in energy markets. Iran makes up around three percent of global oil production.

- 'Full control' -

Araghchi said the Iranian government was "in full control" and reported an atmosphere of "calm" after what he called three days of "terrorist operation."

Iran also struck a defiant tone about responding to any US attack, as Washington appeared to draw down staff at a base in Qatar that Tehran targeted in a strike last year.

Iran targeted the Al Udeid base in June in retaliation for US strikes on its nuclear facilities. Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned Trump the strike showed "Iran's will and capability to respond to any attack."

Fears of possible US military action continued to rile the region.

The British government said its embassy in Tehran had been "temporarily closed," India's government urged its citizens to leave the country.

Germany's Lufthansa on Wednesday said its flights would avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace "until further notice" after the US threats against Iran.

Trump has threatened to intervene militarily in Iran several times since the protest movement that has shaken the country began in late December. The protests are the largest since the Iranian Republic was proclaimed in 1979.

Rights monitors say that under cover of a five-day internet blackout, Iranian authorities are carrying out their harshest repression in years against demonstrations openly challenging the theocratic system.

Iran's judiciary chief vowed fast-track trials for those arrested, stoking fears authorities will use capital punishment as a tool of repression.

In Tehran, authorities held a funeral for more than 100 security personnel and other "martyrs" killed in the unrest, which officials have branded "acts of terror."

- 'Unprecedented level of brutality' -

G7 nations said Wednesday they were "deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries" and warned of further sanctions if the crackdown continued.

Monitor NetBlocks said Iran's internet blackout had lasted 144 hours. Despite the shutdown, new videos, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, wrapped in black bags as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said authorities were using "an unprecedented level of brutality to suppress protests," noting reports of protest activity had sharply declined.

A senior Iranian official told journalists there had been no new "riots" since Monday, distinguishing them from earlier cost-of-living protests. "Every society can expect protests, but we will not tolerate violence," he said.

Prosecutors have said some detainees will face capital charges of "waging war against God." State media reported hundreds of arrests and the detention of a foreign national for espionage, without giving details.

Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, said security forces had killed at least 3,428 protesters and arrested more than 10,000.