How the MTN Group is linked to the Iranian warships visiting South Africa
By Staff Writer
While the Tehran regime is reported to have killed thousands of innocent civilians in recent days, the South African government authorised a joint naval exercise between the South African Navy and the Iranian Navy called “Will for Peace 2026”.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deployed at Simon’s Town Naval Base
The South African government granted three Iranian naval vessels privileged access to the strategic Simon’s Town Naval Base, which secures the vital international maritime route linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean around the Cape.
One of the Iranian vessels, IRIS Shahid Mahdavi (L110-3), is a floating forward base for the deployment of Shahed-136 fixed-wing drones and Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missiles by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC, which owns and operates the IRIS Shahid Mahdavi (L110-3), is a designated foreign terrorist organisation under United States law and by its allies.
The IRIS Shahid Mahdavi (L110-3) has previously been identified by the US Navy as supporting Houthi terrorist attacks on international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
MTN Group alleged to be funding the IRGC
While the “Will for Peace 2026” exercise is underway with an IRGC vessel present in South Africa, the IRGC is playing a central role in the violent repression of protests that began on 28 December 2025. These have escalated into the killing of thousands of innocent Iranian civilians of all ages.
Five separate lawsuits filed against the MTN Group in the United States under the Anti-Terrorism Act allege that the IRGC has received billions of dollars from MTN-Irancell, the MTN Group’s subsidiary in Iran and the country’s largest digital company.
National Security News and Cloudflare, a leading US internet infrastructure company, reported yesterday, independently, on the major role played by MTN-Irancell in enabling the IRGC’s brutal repression of the protests by shutting down internet access nationwide. This effectively shrouded the killing of thousands of civilians in darkness.
MTN Group invested with the Iranian Ministry of Defence that deployed the IRGC to Simon’s Town
However, the link between the MTN Group and the IRIS Shahid Mahdavi, the IRGC naval vessel moored at Simon’s Town Naval Base, runs deeper than the billions of dollars allegedly paid by MTN-Irancell to the IRGC over two decades.
The MTN Group’s partner and co-shareholder in MTN-Irancell is confirmed by the US Treasury to be Iranian Electronics Industries (IEI). IEI is one of Iran’s largest defence conglomerates and is owned by the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
MODAFL approved the deployment of the Iranian naval vessels to South Africa and will receive valuable intelligence regarding the Simon’s Town base from the visit.
IEI controls MTN-Irancell through a subsidiary, the Iranian Electronic Development Corporation (IEDC), which owns 51 per cent of MTN-Irancell. The MTN Group owns the remaining 49 per cent.
Other defence subsidiaries owned and controlled by IEI within the same corporate group as MTN-Irancell manufacture the Shahed drones and Fateh ballistic missiles deployed by the IRGC. These weapons are launched from the IRIS Shahid Mahdavi (L110-3).
The Iranian naval leadership behind the project
The Chief Executive of IEI is Admiral Amir Rastegari, a senior Iranian naval officer appointed in October 2021. Admiral Rastegari also serves as Iran’s Deputy Minister of Defence.
He attended a meeting with SANDF Chief General Rudzani Maphwanya in Tehran in August 2025. His responsibilities include leading the Iranian Ministry of Defence’s Maritime Industries Organisation, which designed and built the IRIS Shahid Mahdavi (L110-3) for the IRGC.
MTN technology serving the Iranian Ministry of Defence
Not only is MTN’s ultimate partner in Iran the same ministry that deployed the Iranian naval vessels to South Africa, but Iranian media reports that the Iranian Navy extensively uses MTN-Irancell’s services. These contracts are reportedly worth millions of dollars annually.
They include operational communications for bases, ports and personnel, as well as dual-use Internet of Things solutions that run on MTN-Irancell’s classified cloud platform.
With MTN invested alongside the Iranian Ministry of Defence in a weaponised digital platform for terror, and with the civilian death toll in Iran rising daily, perhaps “Will for Peace 2026” should be renamed “Will for Blood-Soaked Profits 2026”.
MTN has been approached for comment.
