Index entries Archive - Page 11 of 30

Mohammad Ali Hadi Najafabadi

A founding member of Reyhaneh charity and a cleric and politician who translated Khomeini’s pronouncements into Arabic when he was in Paris. He was tried in the Bank Sarmayeh case on charges of “participating in the disruption of the country’s economy through the misappropriation of funds.” In January 2021, he was sentenced to five years in jail, 74 whip lashes, and a lifetime ban from holding government positions. Najafabadi was a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal as one of the individuals who negotiated on behalf of the Islamic Republic with US Marine Corps officer Robert Macfarlane.

Seyyed Mansour Razavi

A founding member of Reyhaneh charity, politician, former Rafsanjani VP, and Tehran councilman. Razavi has been a trustee of Jameh Talimat Eslami, an influential religious entity that operates religious schools – and Esra Research Institute, which belongs to influential cleric Abdollah Javadi Amoli’s son Morteza.

Alireza Fallah Mirzaei

A founding member of Reyhaneh charity, a former tax prosecutor and member of the committee to prosecute the bureaucratic infractions of banks and insurance managers and employees.

Cancer Charity

Reza Motallebi Kashani is one of the founding members of this charity, which was established in 2012. Other individuals on its founding board are Kazem Zendehdel and Alireza Zakani.

Kazem Zendehdel

Founding member of Cancer Charity and director of the Health Ministry’s Research Development Center, as well as the director of the ministry’s Disease Registry and Outcomes program.

Reza Motallebi Kashani

Pasta tycoon whose vast business network includes more than 94 individuals, including a former Revolution Court prosecutor linked to human rights violations, a Tehran city councilman who served as vice president in the late Hashemi Rafsanjani’s administration, and a Friday prayer leader infamous for stating that inadequately covered women cause earthquakes.

Motallebi Kashani’s network consists of charities, religious institutions, and a range of businesses including pasta factories, international traders, engineering firms, and oil and gas companies. Many of the organizations he is involved with put him in direct contact with the higher echelons of the Islamic Republic, including Friday prayer leaders, current and former ministers, MPs and city council members, Quds Force officers, and members of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s family.

Alireza Zakani

Founding member of Cancer Charity, Principlist politician, former Tehran MP (2004–2016), and current Qom MP, head of the special committee to review the JCPOA, and according to Iranian news media closely affiliated with Jahan News Website

Tak Makaron

This pasta brand formerly belonged to the Sadeqians, a family with other business interests in the food and textile sectors. Kashani assumed ownership of the company in 2018 under murky circumstances, with no public record of the sale.

Aside from various types of dry pasta, the brand sells imitations of US breakfast cereals such as Cocoa Puffs and Nabisco Shredded Wheat. Last year, Tak Makaron reportedly played a part in creating a pasta shortage as part of a price-gouging scheme, according to Eqtesad Online.

Ghadir Charity Bonyad

Reza Motallebi Kashani is one of the founding members of this charity, which was established in 2013 to “prepare the grounds for the emergence of Mahdi,” the 12th Shia Imam. At the time, the board chairman of this bonyad gave an interview to Resalat newspaper in which he revealed that clerics Ali Reza Panahian and Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi Fard were also involved in this charity. Panahian recently made headlines when it was revealed that he had received a house worth 30 billion toman (about $1.3 million) from Motallebi Kashani. Panahian’s daughter is married to one of Mahdavi Kani’s grandsons.

National Council of Charities (NCC)

An umbrella NGO comprising eight family-owned foundations. Reza Motallebi Kashani is one of its founding members. Another notable member of the organization’s founding board is Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who served as Revolution Court prosecutor (1979–1986), deputy intelligence minister (1987–1999), interior minister (2005–2008), and justice minister (2013–2017).