(Refiles to remove superfluous "he said" in paragraph two)
TEHRAN, Oct 22 (Reuters) - "Real" private investors had bought only a small number of shares in Iran's privatisation drive, while a worrying "new sector" was emerging, a senior lawmaker told business daily Jahan-e Eqtesad.
Hamid-Reza Fouladgar, head of a parliamentary commission on privatisations in the major oil producer, said shares worth the equivalent of $13 billion had been put up for sale on the Tehran Stock Exchange, but less than 13 percent had been bought by "the real private sector".
"We are worried since a new sector has emerged in the economy which is neither completely governmental in nature, over which the parliament would exercise control, and neither is it compatible with the characteristics of the real private sector," Fouladgar said.
Last month, a consortium affiliated to the elite Revolutionary Guards bought 50 percent plus one share in Iran's state telecommunications company for the equivalent of around $7.8 billion, according to Iranian media.
The move was a further sign of the Guards' growing influence in Iran since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, himself a former Guardsman, came to power in 2005.
Ahmadinejad's government is seeking to speed up the sale of state assets, but economists say U.N. and U.S. sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme as well as a slowing economy are complicating efforts to find buyers.
Foreign investors are especially wary because of Iran's row with the West, and some analysts say firms to be sold off may simply end up being transferred within the Islamic Republic's vast public sector. (Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Will Waterman)