Sardar Rostam Qasemi: Yesterday a Minister, Today Dismissed, Tomorrow
He donned a suit and hung up his military attire. Now, he commanded the oil fields and trained soldiers like Babak Zanjani, who were more in service to the enemy than the homeland. Economic war soldiers who were supposed to bypass sanctions but instead raided the nation’s pockets. Ultimately, with thick files of various offenses, including the failure to deposit the money from sold oil by the organization as an agent of the Ministry of Oil, he was sent to Evin. To this day, much of these claims have not been collected, and it seems unlikely that there is hope for this money to return to the treasury.
Special Mission in the Field
After the end of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, Sardar Rostam Qasemi took on a new mission in the field: supplying essential and strategic goods, especially for Syria. This mission, too, was not without controversy and files. However, in his last attempt in the recent elections, he aspired for the presidency but unofficially withdrew due to the Guardian Council, a quiet disqualification not unrelated to Rostam Qasemi’s open cases.
Impossible Promise
Finally, after much speculation, from the political table of Raisi’s government, he donned the ministerial robe once more. Contrary to his desire and enthusiasm to return to the Ministry of Oil, he ended up at the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development. He was so attached to oil and its ministry that during the confidence vote session, he mentioned the Ministry of Oil several times, which became a media topic at the time.
This time, with an impossible and grand promise akin to Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, he made such a big impossible promise that the government and the president are questioned daily by the opposing current about what happened to the one million homes in the first year. But now, with the arrest of his special assistant, Qasem Makarem, by security agencies, ambiguities about the minister himself have been raised again, and talks of his farewell from the government are heard from political corridors.
To the extent that a channel affiliated with the IRGC on social media reacted to these rumors and defended him. Sardar Rostam Qasemi reportedly has an open case in the special military court’s second investigation branch with investigator Alinejad. The rumor of his incurable illness, spread by his associates, and the minister’s weight loss, allegedly related to cancer, has been revealed to be false. The minister has undergone stomach surgery to reduce appetite and lose weight.
Alongside all these challenges, the open financial misconduct cases from his time at the Ministry of Oil cannot be overlooked. It seems that yesterday’s Sardar and today’s minister should be considered tomorrow’s dismissal from the government, as it is unlikely that Rostam will be able to defeat the self-created giant of exposed corruption.
Biography of Sardar Rostam Qasemi
Rostam Qasemi was born in 1964 in the village of Sargah, part of Mehr County, Fars Province. Qasemi joined the IRGC in 1981 and participated in the Iran-Iraq war. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Sharif University of Technology and a master’s degree in civil engineering via distance learning from Amirkabir University of Technology, Garmsar unit, Semnan Province.
After the Iran-Iraq war, he joined the Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters. In 2007, he was appointed as the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters after Abdolreza Abed. In August 2011, following the dismissal of Masoud Mir Kazemi by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he was proposed to take over the Ministry of Oil and received a vote of confidence from the parliament on August 3 as the last oil minister of the tenth government. After Qasemi’s appointment as oil minister, Timothy Geithner warned that from today, Iran’s Ministry of Oil is under the control of the IRGC.
Continued Biography of Sardar Rostam Qasemi on Wikipedia
DMCA Cover