National TV reported that the IRGC Co-op foundation will relinquish its shares in "Mobin Trust Consortium" (Tose’e Etemad Mobin) and step down as a shareholder of the National Telecommunication company. The brief report does not explain the details of this transfer of shares and the only reason mentioned is “the measures taken by the joint office of armed forces”.

In 2009, Mobin Trust Consortium in a controversial acquisition bought 50 percent of the shares in the National Telecommunication Company from the government. The National Telecommunication Company is the largest provider of phone services in Iran and “Hamrah Avval” company is one of its subsidiaries.

Mobin Trust Consortium was formed in the Summer of 2009 by five companies. IRGC Co-op Foundation, Mostazafan Foundation, and Execution of Imam’s Order company all had shares in the Mobin consortium.

There were many ambiguities in the acquisition of Telecommunication Company’s shares which were never addressed. At first, it was said that “Pishgaman Kavir Yazd” company was to compete with Mobin Trust Consortium over these shares. But the company was passed over. It was said that Kavir Yazd company stepped down, but insiders said the reason was that the company did not have members from the security forces. Also, Mobin Consortium’s payment to the Communications Company was delayed twice, apparently due to lack of funds.

Finally, in November 2009, the consortium delivered a check for the amount of 1564 billion tomans (20 percent of the full amount), for the 50 percent of the shares in the Telecommunication Company (priced over 7000 billion tomans) and the biggest acquisition in the history of Iran’s stock market was made. The consortium provided checks to pay the rest of the amounts in eight years.

At the time, the CEO of Shahriar Mahestan company, one of the member companies of the consortium, in a press conference rejected the connection between the IRGC and the consortium. The acquisition happened at the same time as the 2009 uprisings which led to mass arrests of political activists and journalists, and the press was heavily monitored so there was no space for more investigation and questioning.

Shortly after the purchase, Majid Solaimanipour, the CEO of the newly founded Mobin Trust Consortium, and his wife were killed in a bizarre “gas leak accident” in their home, which the police investigator called “suspicious”.

A while later, when payments were due, there were talks of revoking the contract. The Industries and Mining committee in the parliament announced that the deal was made without allowing any competition.

But the contract was not revoked, and Mobin Trust Consortium even expanded its activities abroad and even made an offer to buy the largest telecommunication company in Kazakhstan. But their foreign activities stopped with the expansion of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in the early 2010s.

Now, the news of relinquishing the formerly non-existent shares of IRGC Co-op in Mobin Trust Consortium, raises the question as to what happened that forced this organization to walk away when the new round of sanctions are drawing close; Especially since the “Execution of Imam’s Order” company is still involved with the consortium, and that means the Telecommunication Company will not be sold to the real private sector anyway.