After his warning about the entrance of “dirty money” into politics, various offended officials have demanded that Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli clarify his statements.

Fazli, who is also the secretary-general of Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters, said Feb. 21 that $3 billion has entered the Iranian economy from drug smuggling. This figure, he warned, equals two-thirds of the country’s developmental budget.

Fazli continued, “Without a doubt, some of the dirty money from the smuggling of illegal drugs enters the political field, the elections and the transfer of power.” As an example, he said that approximately $600,000 had been spent by one candidate during a city council election, too large a sum of money to be entirely clean. He said that there must be efforts to prevent money from drug smuggling from entering politics.

After Fazli’s comments, 30 members of parliament presented him with a number of questions challenging his assertions. The questions, which were published by Tasnim News Agency and other outlets, accused Fazli of “undermining the healthiest and most transparent electoral system of the world” and asked him why he didn’t consider the “reaction by foreign media” to such a claim.