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P 140447Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000050 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/IR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2020 
TAGS: PREL IDB IR PGOV PREL TX
SUBJECT: IRAN/TURKMENISTAN: IRANIAN BUSINESSMAN INFURIATED; 
IRGC-LINKED COMPANY GETS RAILWAY CONTRACT 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4 (b) an 
d (d) 
 
¶1. (C) In a January 7 meeting with Iran Watcher, Golammreza 
Gieahpour, the General Director of Iran Samen's Ashgabat 
branch, said that he was "surprised, angry and very, very 
disappointed" that the UAE-based firm Pars Energy, owned and 
run by Iranian citizen Ahmad Ramazani, had been awarded the 
contract by the Iranian and Turkmen governments to construct 
the 700-kilometer Atrak-Gorgan railroad line linking 
Turkmenistan and Iran.  The project is being financed in part 
by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).  Gieahpour said that 
his firm had been perfecting a project proposal for the 
railroad line for the past 35 months, and until recently had 
understood that their only real competition for the contract 
was the Iranian company Travers.  Gieahpour asserted that 
Pars Energy had essentially "appeared out of nowhere" despite 
Iran Samen having successfully lowered its cost estimate per 
kilometer of railway line.  He also alleged that Pars and its 
owner/manager, Ahmad Ramazani, are closely affiliated with 
the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).  He further 
alleged that Ahmad Ramazani and his brother Mahmoud have 
"long and close ties to the Iranian regime," and that as 
university students, they had participated in the 1979 
takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.  He believes that 
both the Turkmen government and the IDB are likely unaware of 
Pars Energy's IRCG connection, but that "they should be," 
particularly since Turkmenistan continually emphasizes its 
policy of "positive neutrality" in foreign affairs. 
 
¶2. (C) Gieahpour had been invited to both the meeting on 
January 5 between local Iranian expats/businessmen and 
visiting Iranian president Ahmadinejad and the opening 
ceremony the following day of the Dovletabad-Serakhs-Hangiran 
gas pipeline.  However, he said that, given the disappointing 
results of the railroad tender, he had "no desire" to attend 
either and declined the invitations. 
 
PRO-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATIONS IN TEHRAN: "TOTALLY 
ORCHESTRATED" 
 
¶3. (C) Gieahpour, who had just returned to Ashgabat after a 
visit to Iran in December, said he had witnessed first-hand 
the pro-government rallies that took place on December 30. 
He said he saw busloads of IRGC members and supporters being 
brought in from outside the city to take part. He also heard 
from friends and acquaintances that government workers had 
been required to participate in the events.  Even some 
elderly people he met on the streets told him that while out 
in public and at government offices for other purposes, they 
had been told to go out onto the streets for the rally.  One 
elderly woman he encountered seemed confused and reportedly 
told him, "I'm not sure why I'm here." 
 
IRGC: "ARMED TO THE TEETH" 
 
¶4. (C) Gieahpour predicts that the IRGC, which h described 
as "armed to the teeth," are so "dug in" in Iran that the 
opposition Green Movement has almost no chance of prevailing 
in its efforts to bring about significant change in the 
country.  He said that Supreme Leader Khamenei is "powerless, 
controlled by the IRGC."  He also predicts that Khamenei's 
son Mojtaba, who, in his words, has no religious credentials 
at all and "bought his degree" from the seminary in Qom, is 
likely to succeed him when he dies.  The only way to bring 
down the IRGC, he said, is to stop the flow of money to it 
from the many businesses it owns or controls inside and 
outside of Iran. 
 
¶5. (C) COMMENT: As we have no corroborating information 
regarding Gieahpour's assertions about Pars Energy or the 
Ramazani brothers, we cannot confirm the accuracy of the 
allegations.  An internet search indicated that Ahmad 
Ramazani was a university student from 1985-87, which would 
make him rather young at the time to have participated in the 
Embassy takeover in 1979.  END COMMENT. 
CURRAN