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Economic activity: capitalization

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{{Short description|State-owned charitable organization in Iran}}
{{Infobox company
|name = Islamic Revolution Mostazafan Foundation
|logo = Mostazafan Foundation logo.png
|logo_size =
|image =
|image_caption =
|type = [[Bonyad]]
|traded_as =
|foundation = {{start date and age|df=yes|1980|02|21}}
|predecessor = Pahlavi Foundation
|founder = [[Ruhollah Khomeini]]
|location_city = [[Tehran]]
|location_country = Iran
|area_served =
|key_people = [[Hossein Dehghan]] <small>(CEO)</small>
|industry =
|products =
|production =
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| assets =
| equity =
| owner =
| num_employees =
|subsid = {{Collapsible list|title=List|
* [[Sina Bank]]
* [[Alavi Foundation]]
* [[Behran Oil Company]]
}}
|homepage = [http://www.irmf.ir/ Official website]
}}
The '''Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution''' ({{langx|fa|بنیاد مستضعفان انقلاب اسلامی}}) formerly '''Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan''' (Foundation of the Oppressed and Disabled or "MFJ") is a charitable ''[[bonyad]]'', or foundation, in the [[History of the Islamic Republic of Iran|Islamic Republic of Iran]], the second-largest commercial enterprise in Iran behind the state-owned [[National Iranian Oil Company]]<ref name="Klebnikov">[http://www.iranian.com/Travelers/2003/July/Rich/ Millionaire mullahs by Paul Klebnikov, 7 July 2003, ''The Iranian''] Originally printed in ''Forbes'', Retrieved 15 May 2009</ref> and biggest [[holding company]] in the Middle East.<ref name="GlobalSecurity" />
The foundation used to be directly run by [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Khamenei Reportedly Gives Tax-Exempt Status To Entities Under His Control |url=https://en.radiofarda.com/a/khamenei-decalres-corporation-under-his-control-as-tax-exempt/29594245.html |agency=Radio Farda |date=11 November 2018}}</ref>

It was founded in 1979 as a successor to the Pahlavi Foundation. As an economic, cultural, and social welfare institution, the foundation controls manufacturing and industrial companies, whose profits are used—according to the foundation—to promote "the living standards of the disabled and poor individuals" of Iran and to "develop general public awareness with regards to history, books, museums, and cinema."<ref>[http://www.irmf.ir/english/newsfullstory.aspx?nid=3 Mostazafan Foundation. About the Bonyad. 2 Oct. 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126094407/http://irmf.ir/english/newsfullstory.aspx?nid=3 |date=26 January 2009 }} Retrieved 15-March-2009.</ref>

The Mostazafan Foundation is associated with the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]] where some of its head officials have come from,<ref name="Katzman" /> and controlled by the Khamenei family.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fact Check: Are Ali Khamenei's Living Standards 'Below Average'? |url=https://iranwire.com/en/khameneicom/103191-fact-check-are-ali-khameneis-living-standards-below-average/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=iranwire.com |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
===Pahlavi Foundation===
[[Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi]] established the Pahlavi Foundation as a tax-exempt charity in 1958. This foundation held the assets of Mohammad Reza Shah, his predecessor, and many of his family, who later served on the corporate board and received commissions. The Pahlavi Foundation's wealth was estimated at $3 billion at its height. The Pahlavi Foundation was dogged by accusations of corruption.<ref name="Abrahamian">Abrahamian, Ervand. ''A History of Modern Iran''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008</ref><ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199603/kaplan-iran "A Bazaari's World"], by [[Robert D. Kaplan]], [[The Atlantic]], March 1996</ref>

The Pahlavi Foundation was said to have owned in Iran four leading hotels: the Hilton, the Vanak, the Evin and the Darband. The foundation gained international attention for purchasing the DePinna building on [[Fifth Avenue]], New York, valued in 1975 at $14.5 million. Such investment in a foreign market by the Pahlavi Foundation gained media attention because in order to do such foreign investment the foundation had to register as an American charitable foundation with the declared aim of using the rental to pay for Iranian students studying in the United States.

The advantage of such charitable status was that the US authorities could not investigate the books of the Pahlavi Foundation in Iran.<ref>{{cite book|last=Graham|first=Robert|title=Iran (RLE Iran A)|date=23 April 2012|publisher=CRC Press|page=232|isbn=9781136834332|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inIfxTWgfegC&q=robert+graham+the+pahlavi+fortune&pg=PT143}}</ref>

===Mostazafan Foundation===
Following the Islamic Revolution, the Pahlavi Foundation was renamed the ''Bonyad-e Mostazafan'' (Foundation of the Oppressed), and its economic assets increased by more than double after the property of fifty millionaires was confiscated and added to the endowment.<ref name="Abrahamian"/>

A decade after the Revolution, the foundation's assets totaled more than $20 billion, and included "some 140 factories, 470 agrobusinesses, 100 construction firms, 64 mines, and 250 commercial companies."<ref name="Abrahamian"/> By 1994, the foundation conducted six trillion rials' worth of business transactions, compared with 5.5 trillion rials collected by the government in taxes.<ref>Behdad, Sohrab. "From Populism to Economic Liberalism: The Iranian Predicament". ''The Economy of Iran: The Dilemma of an Islamic State''. Ed. Parvin Alizadeh. New York: I.B. Tauris</ref> By 1996 the foundation began taking government funds to cover welfare disbursements.<ref name="Klebnikov"/>

Because of the [[Iran–Iraq War]], the foundation was given the responsibility to supervise and aid veterans wounded in the war and the name ''Janbazan'' (disabled) added to it.<ref name="GlobalSecurity">[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/mjf.htm Bonyad-e Mostazafan van Janbazan: Oppressed and Disabled Veterans Foundation (MJF)GlobalSecurity.org] Page last modified: 10-07-2008. 15 March 2009</ref> Sometime before December 2005 the foundation changed its name back to Bonyad Mostazafan as the "Martyrs and War Veterans Foundation" took over war veterans affairs.<ref>[http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2441/html/index.htm Bonyad Chief Reinstated] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505023327/http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2441/html/index.htm |date=5 May 2009 }}</ref>

Important Revolutionary Guards who have headed the foundation include [[Mohsen Rafighdoost]], who served as Minister of the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Revolutionary Guards]] from 1982 to 1989 before heading the foundation until 1999; and [[Mohammad Forouzandeh]], the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Guard in the late 1980s and later Defense Minister, who was head of the foundation from 1999 to 2014.<ref name="Katzman" />

The United States imposed sanctions and blacklisted the Bonyad Mostazafan, an organization controlled by Khamenei. The sanctions froze U.S. assets and bared Americans from doing business with them. The foundation controls hundreds of properties confiscated since the 1979 revolution.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-sanctions/us-imposes-sweeping-sanctions-on-iran-targets-khamenei-linked-foundation-idUSKBN27Y25U U.S. imposes sweeping sanctions on Iran, targets Khamenei-linked foundation]</ref>

==Status==
Legally, the Mostazafan Foundation, is neither a public entity, nor a private one. It is classified as a [[nonprofit organization]], in which the government cannot interfere in its affairs. The foundation only answers to the [[Supreme Leader of Iran|Supreme Leader]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/business/story/2008/06/080624_ge-iran-oil.shtml|title=BBCPersian.com {{!}} اقتصاد و بازرگانی {{!}} بنیاد مستضعفان تاجر جدید نفت|website=www.bbc.com|access-date=2020-03-18}}</ref>

==Economic activity==
{{See also|Economy of Iran|Agriculture in Iran}}
The foundation is involved in numerous sectors of the economy, including shipping, metal, petrochemicals, construction materials, dams, towers, farming, horticulture, [[Tourism in Iran|tourism]], transportation, hotels, and commercial services.<ref name="Katzman">[http://www.ecssr.ac.ae/CDA/en/FeaturedTopics/DisplayTopic/0,1670,502-98-43,00.html Katzman, Kenneth. Iran's Bonyads: Economic Strengths and Weaknesses. 6 Aug 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025143414/http://www.ecssr.ac.ae/CDA/en/FeaturedTopics/DisplayTopic/0%2C1670%2C502-98-43%2C00.html |date=25 October 2008 }} Retrieved 15 May 2009</ref> It controls 40% of Iran's production of soft drinks, including [[Zamzam Cola]] which it owns and produces; the newspapers ''[[Ettelaat]]'' and ''[[Kayhan]]''.<ref name="Abrahamian" /> It "controls 20% of the country's production of textiles ... two-thirds of all glass products and a dominant share also in tiles, chemicals, tires, foodstuffs."<ref>[http://nhh.no/sam/res-publ/2007/08.pdf NHH Sam 2007, Destructive Competition ]{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Its total value was estimated by one source at "as much as $12 billion,"<ref name="Katzman"/> by another as "in all probability exceed[ing] $10 billion."<ref name="Klebnikov"/>

Mostazafan's largest subsidiary is the Agricultural and Food Industries Organization (AFIO), which owns more than 115 additional companies. Some of the foundation's contract work also includes large engineering projects, such as the construction of Terminal One of the [[Imam Khomeini International Airport]].<ref name=rand>{{cite web|title=The Rise of the Pasdaran|url=http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG821.pdf|publisher=Rand Corporation|year=2009}}</ref>

Mostazafan also has a history of soliciting contract work abroad. It currently maintains economic connections with countries in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and South Asia, as well as in Russia and other former states of the Soviet Union.<ref name="rand" />

According to one of the foundation's former directors, [[Mohsen Rafighdoost]], Mostazafan allocates 50 percent of its profits to providing aid to the needy in the form of low-interest loans or monthly pensions, while it invests the remaining 50 percent in its various subsidiaries. With over 200,000 employees, it owns and operates approximately 350 subsidiary and affiliate companies in numerous industries including agriculture, industry, transportation, and tourism.<ref name="fpc.state.gov">[https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/107234.pdf Iran’s Economy]</ref><ref name="rand" /> Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan represented approximately 10 percent of the [[Government of Iran#Public finance and fiscal policy|Iranian government's annual budget]] in 2003.{{Clarify|date=July 2010}}<ref name="fpc.state.gov" /><ref name="rand" /> The MJF has an estimated value of more than $3 billion.<ref name="fpc.state.gov" />

==Controversies==
As employers of approximately five million Iranians and providers of social welfare services to "perhaps several million more", bonyads such as Mostazafan "have a large constituency and are able to build support for the government among the working and lower classes."<ref name="Katzman" /> Nonetheless, the foundation has been subject to a number of controversies common to other bonyads in the years since its inception. The foundation and other bonyads are "exempt from official oversight as key religious leaders and former or current government officials control them. They enjoy virtual tax exemption and customs privileges, preferential access to credit and foreign exchange, and regulatory protection from private sector competition".<ref name="Klebnikov" /><ref name="Katzman" />

In 2003, there was talk of the foundation "spinning off its social responsibilities" and becoming "a purely commercial conglomerate," leaving open the question of who would own it and why it should exist as a foundation.

==See also==
* [[Bonyad]]
* [[Economy of Iran]]
* [[Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Works and Values]]

==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131004125225/http://irmf.ir/ Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan] (official website)
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Heads of Mostazafan Foundation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution}}
[[Category:1958 establishments in Iran]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1958]]
[[Category:Charities based in Iran]]
[[Category:Front organizations]]
[[Category:Foundations based in Iran]]
[[Category:Organisations under the direct control of the supreme leader of Iran]]
[[Category:Revolutionary institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran]]

Mostazafan Foundation - Revision history

imported>HarukaAmaranth: /* Economic activity */ capitalization