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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

UN Rights Council to Hold Emergency Session on Iran, Document Shows

FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)
FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)
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UN Rights Council to Hold Emergency Session on Iran, Document Shows

FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)
FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)

The UN Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session on Iran on Friday, with proponents aiming to discuss "alarming violence" used against protesters, a document showed on Tuesday.

An Iranian official said authorities have verified at least 5,000 deaths in the protests ‌which are ‌the biggest demonstrations since 2022, ‌prompting ⁠UN rights ‌chief Volker Turk to condemn the violence.

"A special session is needed because of the importance and urgency of the situation, in particular due to credible reports of alarming violence, crackdowns on protesters and violations of international human ⁠rights law across the country," according to a letter written ‌by Iceland's ambassador Einar ‍Gunnarsson on behalf of ‍a group of countries including Germany and ‍Britain, and seen by Reuters.

The special session will happen on Friday, the UN confirmed, adding that 21 countries so far have supported the proposal.

Human Rights Watch has denounced mass unlawful killings and is asking for an existing ⁠UN probe, set up by the council in 2022 after the last wave of protests, to investigate the deaths and be given extra financing to do so.

Iran's diplomatic mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Diplomats said Iran had sent to missions pages of rebuttal against allegations of a crackdown, saying the clashes followed armed ‌attacks on security forces.

World

Iran FM Says Davos Appearance Cancellation Based on ‘Lies’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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Iran FM Says Davos Appearance Cancellation Based on ‘Lies’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Iran's foreign minister hit out at the World Economic Forum in Davos for cancelling his appearance over a crackdown on recent protests, saying the decision was based on "lies and political pressure".

Protests in Iran sparked by economic strain in late December exploded into the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years, with the full scale of the violent crackdown yet to emerge due to an internet blackout.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was slated to speak on Tuesday at the annual gathering of global elites in Switzerland, but was disinvited after the WEF said it would not be "right" due to the "loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks".

Araghchi said his appearance was cancelled "on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its US-based proxies and apologists", in an X post late Monday.

He called it a "blatant double standard" to disinvite him while inviting Israel after its war in Gaza, saying it "conveys moral depravity and intellectual bankruptcy".

Iranian officials have said the recent demonstrations were peaceful before descending into "riots" fueled by Iran's arch-foes the United States and Israel in an effort to destabilize the nation.

Araghchi's post on X was accompanied by a video saying the demonstrations were a "terror operation" spurred by Israel's Mossad spy agency.

Rights groups say they have verified at least several thousand protesters killed by Iranian security forces, with some estimates putting the true figure as high as 20,000 dead.

The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, which has verified the deaths of at least 3,428 protesters, said on Monday that "all indications are that this massacre was planned and carried out with full coordination" by the country.

World

Bessent Says US-Europe Relations Have ‘Never Been Closer’ Despite Greenland Crisis

Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, holds a speech at the USA House during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP)
Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, holds a speech at the USA House during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP)
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Bessent Says US-Europe Relations Have ‘Never Been Closer’ Despite Greenland Crisis

Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, holds a speech at the USA House during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP)
Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, holds a speech at the USA House during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP)

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said America’s relations with Europe remain strong and urged trading partners to “take a deep breath” and let tensions driven by the Trump administration's new tariff threats over Greenland “play out.”

“I think our relations have never been closer,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations that have rallied around Denmark in the wake of his stepped up calls for the United States to take over the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.

Trump has insisted the US needs the territory for security reasons against possible threats from China and Russia.

The American leader’s threats have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe, as leaders consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and the first-ever use of the European Union’s anti-coercion instrument.

The EU has three major economic tools it could use to pressure Washington: new tariffs, suspension of the US-EU trade deal, and the “trade bazooka” — the unofficial term for the bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could sanction individuals or institutions found to be putting undue pressure on the EU.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He said "I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland,” which is hosting the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week.

France's Macron suggests G7 meeting

Trump also posted a text message from Emmanuel Macron in which the French president suggested a meeting of members of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies in Paris after the Davos gathering.

Later, however, Trump posted some provocatively doctored images. One showed him planting the US flag next to a sign reading “Greenland, US Territory, Est. 2026.” The other showed Trump in the Oval Office next to a map that showed Greenland and Canada covered with the US Stars and Stripes.

In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance.

“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.

In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated that the import taxes would be retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.

Danish minister called for a stronger Europe

Denmark's minister for European affairs called Trump's tariff threats “deeply unfair." He said that Europe needs to become even stronger and more independent, while stressing there is "no interest in escalating a trade war."

"You just have to note that we are on the edge of a new world order, where having power has unfortunately become crucial, and we see a United States with an enormous condescending rhetoric towards Europe,” Marie Bjerre told Danish public broadcaster DK on Tuesday.

European markets opened sharply lower on Tuesday and US futures fell further as tensions rose over Greenland. Benchmarks in Germany, France and Britain fell about 1%. The future for the S&P 500 lost 1.5% and the Dow future was down 1.4%.

With US trading closed Monday for a holiday, financial markets had a relatively muted response to Trump’s threat to put a 10% extra tariff on exports from eight European countries that have opposed his push to exert control over Greenland. Jonas Golterman of Capital Economics described the situation as a lose-lose one for both the US and the targets of Trump’s anger. He said, “It certainly fells like the kind of situation that could get worse before it gets better.”

In another sign of tension between allies, the British government on Tuesday defended its decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after Trump attacked the plan, which his administration previously supported.

Trump said that relinquishing the remote Indian Ocean archipelago, home to a strategically important American naval and bomber base, was an act of stupidity that shows why he needs to take over Greenland.

The United Kingdom signed a deal in May to give Mauritius sovereignty over the islands, though the UK will lease back the island of Diego Garcia, where the US base is located, for at least 99 years.