WSJ Fires Reporter with Ties to Iranian-Born Magnate

By Christine Zosche 

The chief foreign affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal was fired on Wednesday after evidence surfaced that he had become entangled in the business dealings of an Iranian-born aviation titan who was one of his key sources. (NYT)

The reporter, Jay Solomon, was offered a 10 percent stake in a fledgling company, Denx LLC, by Farhad Azima, an Iranian-born aviation magnate who has ferried weapons for the CIA. It was not clear whether Solomon ever received money or formally accepted a stake in the company. (AP)

Azima, the AP said, was also one of Solomon’s sources for years. Solomon’s involvement was unearthed as part of an AP investigation into Azima, in which the AP obtained a “collection of tens of thousands of emails his lawyers say was stolen by hackers,” which included conversations between Azima and Solomon. (Politico / On Media)

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Among the ventures Solomon discussed was a $725 million contract that would allow surveillance planes to spy inside of Iran, according to the AP. Solomon denied any business venture with Azima. (HuffPost)

Solomon’s work covering national security and foreign affairs had been submitted by the paper for Pulitzer consideration, according to former and current Journal employees. His two decades at the Journal included stints in Asia and Africa. While in Washington, he had become a well-sourced fixture on the foreign policy social scene. He’s known to have a close working relationship with Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the U.S. (WaPo)

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