The speech March 8 by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to environmental officials received considerable attention in the Western media due to speculation and rumors about his health. “Iran leader appears in public amid rumors about his health,” read the headline of The Associated Press, in reference to the reports that Ayatollah Khamenei was in critical condition. Lost in the coverage were Khamenei's warnings about an issue that has decimated much of Iran’s natural environment: “land-grabbing,” the process by which individuals use their access to government officials to privatize public land.
Khamenei said, “It’s painful that through cleverness or manipulating the law, and lately by buying off a few weak-minded officials in a certain institution, [it's possible] to turn public wealth into personal wealth.” He added that the “issue of land-grabbing has slowly turned into mountain-grabbing. … When I see what is happening north of Tehran, one becomes very disappointed. I’ve talked about this issue many times to city and administration officials, and they’ve made efforts, but they need to act decisively.”
