The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, saw the rise of the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran’s economy.

Rafsanjani unabashedly appointed his close relatives to various positions of power, helped them secure prestigious jobs, and sent them abroad to study; Rafsanjani himself never traveled abroad without several members of his family in tow. He doled out public funds to whomever he pleased: regime officials, his own family members, and the families of known terrorists.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his wife of almost six decades, Efat Marashi, had five children: Fatemeh (now 60), Mohsen (59), Faezeh (58), Mehdi (51), and Yaser (50). Tehran Bureau takes a look at their lives, their business interests, and their web of influential connections that extend across the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The post The Web of the Rafsanjani Clan appeared first on Tehran Bureau.

The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, gave rise to the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that paralyze Iran’s economy.  

The lack of comprehensive public business records from the Rafsanjani era make tracing his family’s role in Iran’s economy difficult, but Rafsanjani was a dedicated diary keeper and one of the few IRI officials to publish annual memoirs until his suspicious death in 2017. 

These memoirs, augmented by our research into current business records and whistleblower interviews, offer a wealth of information about his relationship with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top decision makers, family scandals, and watershed events that took place behind closed doors and were never shared with the nation. 

They also paint a picture of a man who never traveled abroad without several, if not all, members of his family in tow. Rafsanjani unabashedly appointed his close relatives to various positions of power, helped them secure prestigious jobs, and sent them abroad to study. He doled out public funds to whomever he pleased: regime officials, his own family members, and the families of known terrorists like Anis Naccache, who led a failed attempt to assassinate Shapour Bakhtiar, Iran’s last prime minister before the Islamist takeover. They also show a man who sent his children to negotiate with various countries on behalf of Iran instead of using the foreign service apparatus created specifically for this task. 

Tehran Bureau provides an in-depth look at the Rafsanjani family’s business interests. In part one of this series, we examine the network of Mohsen Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s oldest son, who has held prestigious posts in Tehran’s municipal administration, national transport, and the Expediency Council.

Overview: The Rafsanjani Children 

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his wife of almost six decades, Efat Marashi, had five children: Fatemeh (now 60), Mohsen (59), Faezeh (58), Mehdi (51), and Yaser (50).

All five of the Rafsanjani children are involved in Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab (aka Office of Publishing Revolution Learnings), a publishing house dedicated to the works of Rafsanjani and works on Rafsanjani. 

• Mohsen Hashemi served as CEO and board chairman from 2004 to 2013 
• Mehdi Hashemi served as vice chairman from 2004 to 2013 
• Yaser Hashemi served as a board member and vice chairman from 2004 to 2013 
• Fatemeh Hashemi served as a board member from 2004 to 2013
• Faezeh Hashemi served as a board member from 2009 to 2013
• Emad Hashemi, son of Mohsen Hashemi, served as CEO in 2013

Official information about Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab’s board has not been updated since 2013.

Mohsen Hashemi 

Rafsanjani’s oldest son, Mohsen, is married to Azam Hashempour¹ and has three sons: Emad, Ehsan, and Alireza. Emad is married to Zahra Seyyed Rouhani², Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s great-granddaughter.

Mohsen, who holds a degree in mechanical engineering from a Canadian university, was involved in the IRGC missile project for at least four years, based on his September 2011 interview with Khabaronline.

At the age of 28, while his father was president, Mohsen became the head of the Presidential Office of Inspections, holding this position for eight years. When his father became the head of the Expediency Council, Mohsen became his chief of staff. He also served as Azad University’s construction deputy for four years until, in 2017, he won a seat in the 5th Tehran City Council and became its chairman. Mohsen Hashemi is the head of the central council of the Executives of Construction Party (ECP), which was founded by former cabinet members and friends of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1996. 

Mohsen Hashemi has been on the board of several companies including: 

1. Refah Cultural Bonyad (linked to Mohsen Rafiqdoust) as a board member since 2007. 

2. Tehran Metro Company as CEO, board chairman, and vice chairman for a decade (2003–2013) until he was replaced with Habibollah Bourbour.

3. Tehran Metro Station Complexes Development Co as a board member.

4. Iran Rail Association as board chairman.

5. Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operation (TUSRO) as board chairman and vice chairman until 2013. Other TUSRO board members who served alongside Mohsen include: 

• Habil Darvishi (board chairman), who was also the CEO of the Tehran Metro Company. He went on to become the CEO of Mofid Economic Group (EIKO) and then the CEO of the Police Co-operative Foundation.

• Jafar Rabiei (board member), who has ties to companies like Rasaneh Mehr Vatan (BTS), Kowsar Markazi Credit Institute (BTB), Ezam Management and Operation Co. (Ezam Group, Abbas Iravani³), and Parsian Oil and Gas Development (Ghadir Investment, Armed Forces).

Rabiei is the CEO of the US Treasury–sanctioned Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co (PGPIC) and deputy of projects and planning  for the Defense Industries Organization (Armed Forces). He had a stint at the Expediency Council, and there were rumors that he was a contender for oil minister in Ebrahim Raisi’s administration.

• Mohammad Ahmadi Bafandeh (board member), a graduate of Imam Hussein University, an IRGC military academy. Bafandeh has ties to various Bonyad-owned entities such as Kowsar Agricultural Investment Co (BS) and Chemi Darou Kowsar (BS), Metra Consulting Engineers (BTS), and Iran Marine Service (Ghadir Investment). Bafandeh has previously been the mayor of Qom and Tehran’s district 1.

• Ali Mohammad Qoliha (CEO, board member), son-in-law of eulogist Mansour Arzi’s brother. Arzi is close to the supreme leader and has trained many of the Islamic Republic’s hardline eulogists including Mahmoud Karimi, who in 2014 brandished a gun and shot a few rounds during a road rage incident. Qoliha previously had positions on the board of SAIPA, a carmaker with strong ties to BTS. He also enjoys close ties with Majles speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. According to reports, Qalibaf was set to replace his executive deputy in the Majles, Hamid Aslani,⁴ with Qoliha. However, because of Qalibaf’s secretive appointments and dismissals, it is not clear whether or not he was eventually appointed to a parliamentary position. Qalibaf did, however, put Qoliha in charge of Ebrahim Raisi’s inauguration ceremony. 

• Seyyed Jafar Tashakori Hashemi (board chairman, board member), a member of the Qalibaf network.

6. Tamadon Azad Pars Tourism Development Co.

Mohsen was chairman of this company’s founding board and represented the interests of Azad Pasargad Development Co. on its board of directors. Both of these companies are Azad University subsidiaries. 

Azad Pasargad Development’s articles of incorporation describe it as an “investment company” that “manages factories in any industrial sector”  as well as participating in the “purchase, sales, packaging and distribution of all legal products,” “ investment in foreign and domestic companies” and “managing, designing, supervising and implementing construction projects, land surveying, road construction and dam construction.”

Established on May 8, 2016, Tamadon Azad Pars is involved in “investment, executing and operating projects [such as] tourism, recreational and hospitality facilities and any other activity related to tourism, raising capital and partnership with any and all foreign and domestic individuals and entities in the tourism sector . . . including hotels, hospitality centers, tourism, recreational, sports, cultural, historical, educational and business complexes,” “operating domestic and international tours via air, ground or sea,” and “partnering with production and economic units and investment in any and all domestic and international companies.”  

Other Tamadon Azad Pars board members include: 

• Mohammad Mostafa Doa-Gouei (vice chairman), who has been affiliated with SAIPA Sports Club, a multisport club based in Tehran and Karaj that owns a football team and has links to members of the Qalibaf network. He has also served on the board of bank subsidiaries such as Mellat Leasing (Bank Mellat subsidiary), Rahbaran Hadaf Arman (Bank Tose Saderat), and Dey Leasing (Bank Dey).

• Farbod Komaei (board member), who is also on the board of Azad Pasargad Development and represents the interests of ANA News Agency, which belongs to Islamic Azad University. Komaei is also the board chairman of a transportation company called Ofoq Etemad Kala Shahr-e Kord, a Bonyad Maskan subsidiary. Bonyad Maskan is one of the several bonyads overseen by the office of the supreme leader. 

• Karim Eqbal Behbahani (alternate inspector), who has been an inspector in over 125 companies in fields including industrial, petrochemical, marine services, and agriculture.

Of Mohsen Hashemi’s three sons, Alireza Hashemi Behramani has been in Switzerland since at least 2015 and is currently conducting thesis research at the University of Geneva, according to its website. Alireza and his father have two companies registered in France: Rubis D’Evian (real estate) and Rubis De Maxilly (construction and real estate). Alireza and his uncle Yaser founded another company in France in 2017, SCCV Rubis.

Alireza was the board chairman of a company called Arvin Sazan Sadid in 2007, which according to its articles of incorporation was a construction contractor with activities ranging from building bridges, tunnels, and dams to street asphalt repairs, restoration of buildings and green spaces, piping (water, sewage, gas), import-export, and other trade activities. His fellow board members are the Jannatian family, who own the Omran Sarir International Co.

The patriarch of the family, Mahmoud Jannatian, is the former deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI); he was placed on the EU sanctions list in 2008 and removed in 2015. Jannatian allegedly oversaw the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Mohsen’s oldest son, Emad, is the CEO of Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab (see above) and recently joined the board of Abnieh Gostar Karafarin, a Karafarin Bank (Entrepreneur’s Bank) subsidiary. EIKO is the majority shareholder in Karafarin Bank.

Abnieh Gostar Karafarin is an investment company that “does any and all legal trade transactions, construction contracting of buildings, industrial, commercial, administrative and residential complexes inside the country and abroad . . . imports construction material and anything else necessary for the company’s activity from abroad,” according to its articles of incorporation.

Mohsen’s youngest son, Ehsan, is 24 years old and does not appear to be involved in the family’s business activities. 

The post The Rafsanjani Children, Part 1: Mohsen Hashemi appeared first on Tehran Bureau.

The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, gave rise to the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran’s economy.

The lack of comprehensive public business records from the Rafsanjani era make tracing his family’s role in Iran’s economy difficult, but Rafsanjani was a dedicated diary keeper and one of the few IRI officials to publish annual memoirs until his suspicious death in 2017. 

These memoirs, augmented by our research into current business records and whistleblower interviews, offer a wealth of information about the Rafsanjani clan’s relationships with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top decision makers, family scandals, and pivotal events that took place behind closed doors and were never shared with the nation. 

In this series, Tehran Bureau provides an in-depth look at the Rafsanjani family’s business interests. Part one examined the network of Mohsen Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s oldest son. Now, in part two, we turn to the youngest of Rafsanjani’s three sons, Yaser Hashemi, along with his wife, Maryam Salari, and her family connections.

Yaser Hashemi

The youngest son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Yaser Hashemi Bahramani, 50, is married to Maryam Salari.¹ They have one daughter, Leili, who is married to Mohammad Mahdi Sanei Taheri.

Yaser was one of his father’s chiefs of staff at the Expediency Council. After Rafsanjani’s death, Yaser’s office was sealed shut and he was effectively purged from the EC. Yaser was reportedly also chief of staff of Azad University’s board of trustees. Rafsanjani’s archived website states that Yaser was once in the business of cheese imports. 

According to a 2003 article in Forbes, “Yaser owns a 30-acre horse farm in the super fashionable Lavasan neighborhood of north Tehran, where land goes for over $4 million an acre. Just where did Yaser get his money? A Belgian-educated businessman, he runs a large export-import firm that includes baby food, bottled water and industrial machinery.”

Yasser’s business interests include: 

1. Raha Mehr Vatan Charity

Established in September 2019, Raha Mehr Vatan describes itself as a “non-political, not-for-profit, and non-governmental institute” that is focused on “healthcare.” The company’s board of directors consists of: 

• Yaser Hashemi – CEO and board chairman 

• Maryam Salari (wife) – vice chairman

• Leili Hashemi (daughter) – board member

• Mahmoud Salari (father-in-law; see “The Salaris,” below) – alternate board member

• Massoud Khalili – board member

Khalili was one of the founders of Iranian Equestrian Industry Co. and represented the interests of the Equestrian Federation of Iran on its board of directors (note Yaser’s horse farm mentioned in the Forbes article cited above).

• Mahmoud Yazdi – treasurer, board member

Yazdi is a long-time business partner involved in various Yaser Hashemi/Maryam Salari companies.

• Davoud Soleimani – inspector

Soleimani is connected to various other businesses linked to Yaser Hashemi’s family (see below). He is also the CEO of a travel agency called Shajareh Taneem that operates Haj tours. 

• Soraya Marashi (relative) – alternate inspector

2. Sanati Tolidi Moratab 

Yaser Hashemi was the vice chairman of Sanati Tolidi Moratab in 2007 and represented the interests of the Ahrar Markazi Institute on its board of directors. 

Established on October 7, 1957, Tolidi Moratab was the official dealer of Land Rovers in Iran and later launched an assembly line to produce the car in the country. The company was nationalized after the 1979 Revolution. Approximately 62 percent of the company’s shares are now owned by Ahrar Markazi Institute, which was established on January 23, 1994, to financially empower former POWs and war veterans, who are also its shareholders. Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) serve as the institute’s executives. In addition to Sanati Tolidi Moratab and other companies, Ahrar owns various properties and land across the country.

On November 29, 2014, a meeting of Ahrar shareholders and the board of directors led to a group of shareholders airing their grievances to the media. By their account, Ahrar was operating without any supervision from Bonyad Shahid, the para-governmental foundation that is supposed to exercise oversight over veterans’ affairs. Shareholders, they asserted, were kept in the dark about the way the institute was run, its subsidiaries, and its finances, and they had yet to receive their requisite dividends. On February 13, 2015, Ahrar’s shareholders finally lodged a complaint with the General Inspection Organization of Iran (GIO). No updates regarding this complaint have been released.

3. Tehran Airline (fka Safat Airline)

This airline is also a subsidiary of the Ahrar Markazi Institute. It operated both passenger and cloud-seeding flights but lost its permit in 2013. The company still exists and changed its name from Safat to Tehran Airline in April 2018.

In 2006, Yaser was the board chairman of Safat Airline.

4. SCCV Rubis

Public records show that Yaser’s SCCV Rubis, headquartered in Évian, France, lists his wife, Maryam Salari, and their daughter, Leili, as partners along with his nephew Alireza. Public documents also show one Ali Bahmanpour as affiliated with the building construction company, which was established in 2017.

Maryam Salari

In addition to sitting on the board of Raha Mehr Vatan Charity (see above), Maryam Salari is connected to several travel and trade companies: 

1. Parvaz Sharq Pasargad

Established on May 10, 2010, the company’s articles of incorporation state that it is a “general contracting company for construction work, electrical work curbing and gutter services, air duct installation, residential, commercial and institutional cleaning services, catering and meal distribution services, and import-export of all legal products.” 

However, according to its website, Parvaz Sharq Pasargad has over a “decade of successful experience in aviation and tourism and has been active in marketing, sales, and travel agency and airport services.” This change of charter has not been reflected in public records. 

Maryam is the current board chairman of the company and its one-time CEO. Her brothers, Reza and Mohammad Salari, have both served on its board as vice chairmen.

Other current and former board members of Parvaz Sharq Pasargad include: 

• Mahmoud Yazdi – current vice chairman

Yazdi is also the treasurer of Raha Mehr Vatan Charity and the vice chairman of another company called Paranedeh Sefid Kahkeshan, which “obtains visas, operates domestic and international tours,” and engages in “travel ticket sales, hotel reservations, and any other activity directly or indirectly related to passenger transportation.” 

• Abtin Yazdi – current CEO

He is a board member in Paranedeh Sefid Kahkeshan (see above) and the vice chairman of a Kahkeshan Rah Parvaz Travel Agency. 

• Naser Khedrnejad – current board member; former CEO

Khedrnejad is connected to various companies owned by Minoo Industrial Group such as Qassem Iran and Persuisse Export Co. Minoo itself is owned by Azadegan Co., a conglomerate similar to the Ahrar Markazi Institute (see above) in its declared mission to empower war veterans and former POWs. He is also on the board of several travel agencies dedicated to religious tours and pilgrimage services.

• Saeed Ohadi – former board member 

In 2007, Ohadi was board chairman of Sanati Tolidi Moratab (see above) and served on its board of directors along with Yaser Hashemi. Ohadi is a long-time executive of companies belonging to both Azadegan Co. and Ahrar Markazi Institute.

2. Airsa Vision Parsian 

This company was established on July 14, 2013, to “conduct trade activities including procurement, production and distribution, import-export and offering after-sales services,” “customs services,” “project management,” “obtaining loans and lines of credit,” and “commission work.” In April 2016, Airsa Vision Parsian’s charter was amended and it became a “cleaning company” before it was dissolved in early November 2017. 

Maryam Salari was one of its founders and a vice chairman.

Other executives included: 

• Davoud Soleimani – CEO 

Soleimani was also the founding board of Raha Mehr Vatan Charity as inspector. Soleimani is linked to several other travel agencies specializing in pilgrimage and religious tourism. 

• Hamed Hashemi (relative) – board chairman

He is on the board of at least one other company connected to Yaser Hashemi and Maryam Salari’s network (see below). Hamed Hashemi and Sima Farshchi (also a board member) established an import-export company on Qashem Island called Maysa Sanaat Jonob Qashem.

• Mohammad Salari (see above) – dissolution manager

3. Ira Anahita Asanbar

Established in January 2017, this company “offers elevator repairs and maintenance” in addition to the “purchase, sales, distribution, production, packaging, import-export and after-sales services of any and all legal products,” “holding seminars,” “obtaining loans and lines of credit from domestic and international banks and credit institutions,” and “customs services.” 

 Maryam Salari is the company’s vice chairman. Other executives include: 

• Hamed Hashemi – board chairman
• Sima Farshchi – board member
• Mohammad Reza Navaei – alternate inspector

Navaei is connected to an oil swap company, Otana Energy, which is part of a larger network of oil swap firms.

4. Asra Parvaz Air Travel and Tourism Services (Eavar)

Asra Parvaz is a travel agency that, according to its website, was founded in 2003 to “plan and operate tours of European countries” and “initially operated cultural tours for students and university professors” before expanding its travel packages due to increasing demand. In February 2017, Asra Parvaz amended its charter to include “all electronic air travel services such as e-tickets.” 

Public records show that when Asra Parvaz’s owners registered “Eavar” as their official brand, 50 percent of the company was owned by Fara Sanaat Pasargad Iranian Engineers, which according to its website is the official representative for Philips Monitors. 

Maryam Salari has been a board member since January 2013 and has held positions such as board chairman and vice chairman. Other members of her and Yaser Hashemi’s network have also served on Asra Pravz’s board of directors, including:

•  Azad Yousef Zamani – board chairman

Yousef Zamani has been on the board of Asra Parvaz since 2007. He was previously on the board of Parvaz Sharq Pasargad, another company linked to Yaser Hashemi’s wife and her relatives. Azad Zamani is connected to several other travel companies, including Khadamati Shirin Safar Qarreh Sabz (Green Continent Sweet Travel Services), where he is the board chairman. Despite bearing the name of a travel agency, according to its articles of incorporation Khadamati Shirin Safar Qarreh Sabz is a “trade company” involved in “import-export,” “participates in public and private tenders,” and offers “management and business consulting services.” Public records show that Asra Parvaz is an equity partner in Khadamati Shirin Safar Qarreh Sabz.

• Ali Kavezadeh – CEO and board member

Kavezadeh has been on the board of Asra Parvaz since 2013 and previously held the position of vice chairman. Kavezadeh is the current vice chairman of Khadamati Shirin Safar Qarreh Sabz’s board of directors. 

5. Jahan Web Gostar Parsian

Established on September 7, 2010, Jahan Web Gostar Parsian provides “computer hardware and equipment services, including system assembly and upgrades, installs computer networks, offers after-sales services and imports-exports any and all computer parts and equipment.”

In April 2012, Jahan Web Gostar Parsian’s board consisted of: 

• Maryam Salari – board member and equity partner 

She remained an equity partner and board member until March 2016.

• Seyyed Amir Reza Hashemi Golpayegani – equity partner and vice chairman

Golpayegani is also an equity partner and board chairman of Paranedeh Sefid Kahkeshan (see above), along with Abtin and Mahmoud Yazdi. Amir Reza is the son of Mohammad Reza Hashemi Golpayegani, minister of science, research, and technology in Rafsanjani’s second administration.

• Mohsen Mozafari – board chairman 

Mozaffari is also on the board of Parvaz Sharq Pasargad and several other travel companies connected to Azad Yousef Zamani (see above).

• Farid Dalaei – founding board member, equity partner, and CEO

Several of Dalaei’s family members are affiliated with Jahan Web Gostar Parsian. Dalaei himself is connected to Parvaz Sharq Pasargad, another of the Salari-Hashemi businesses.

The Salaris (Yaser Hashemi’s in-laws)

Azra Marashi—sister of Efat Marashi, Rafsanjani’s wife—married Abdolkarim Salari and together they had four children: Mohammad, Mahmoud, Malakeh, and Mahin. Mahmoud Salari himself has had at least four children: Maryam (now Yaser Hashemi’s wife), Neda, Reza, and Mohammad.

• Mahmoud Salari is an alternate member of Raha Mehr Vatan Charity’s board of directors.

• Reza Salari (son) is vice chairman of Parvaz Sharq Pasargad (see above). He was also one of the founding members and chairman of Fashafouyeh Water Ski’s board of directors. While Fashafouyeh Water Ski is dedicated to water sports and recreation, the company’s article’s of incorporation enables it to “import-export any and all legal products including sports equipment” and “ope[n] sports clubs.” 

• Mohammad Salari (son) is a board member and one-time vice chairman of Parvaz Sharq Pasargad (see above). He is the dissolution manager for Airsa Vision Parsian (see above). He was an equity partner and vice chairman of Fashafouyeh Water Ski’s board of directors. 

• Mahmoud Salari [2] (cousin) is on the founding board of Ali Abad Sadat Cultural Charity along with other members of the extended Marashi family. 

Other individuals connected to the Salaris via their companies include:

Shahriyar Shahir Barzegar, the CEO of Fashafouyeh Water Ski’s at its founding. He leveraged this company to personally accompany the Islamic Republic’s ski teams in the 2014 Olympics as “manager,” according to his website. He also credits himself as being the father of “principled franchising” in the country as the founder of the Hoopoe salons for men. He is also the board chairman of the Shana Caspian of Anzali Free Trade Zone, an import-export company involved in “medical, hospital and laboratory equipment imports.”

Changiz Shakouri, one-time CEO and equity partner in Fashafouyeh Water Ski. He was recently appointed political deputy to the superintendent of Masal County, Gilan Province. He previously held executive positions in Talesh County and Astara County, the latter of which is on Iran’s crucial trade border with the Caucasus. His daughter Tanya is also an equity partner in Fashafouyeh Water Ski.

The post The Rafsanjani Children, Part 2: Yaser Hashemi appeared first on Tehran Bureau.

The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, gave rise to the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran’s economy.

The lack of comprehensive public business records from the Rafsanjani era make tracing his family’s role in Iran’s economy difficult, but Rafsanjani was a dedicated diary keeper and one of the few IRI officials to publish annual memoirs until his suspicious death in 2017. 

These memoirs, augmented by our research into current business records and whistleblower interviews, offer a wealth of information about the Rafsanjani clan’s relationships with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top decision makers, family scandals, and pivotal events that took place behind closed doors and were never shared with the nation. 

In this series, Tehran Bureau provides an in-depth look at the Rafsanjani family’s business interests. Part one examined the network of Mohsen Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s oldest son. Part two turned to the youngest of Rafsanjani’s three sons, Yaser Hashemi, along with his wife, Maryam Salari, and her family connections. Now, in part three, we focus on the late president’s two daughters, Faezeh and Fatemeh, and the Lahouti clan they both married into.

Faezeh Hashemi Bahramani

Faezeh, 58, is Rafsanjani’s youngest and most controversial daughter. She is married to Hamid Lahouti Eshkevari and has two children, Hassan and Mona. Hassan lived in the UK and was briefly arrested upon his return to Iran in 2012. Mona is married but not much is known about her husband or her life. Faezeh was rumored to have divorced her husband, though she denied this in an interview published by Jamaran News in 2014.

By her account, Faezeh loved to study but was unable to pass the university entrance exam in Iran for several years until she finally gained admittance to Islamic Azad University, which was co-founded by her father in 1982. She holds a doctorate in human rights law from the school. 

In 1989, early in her father’s first term as president, the Islamic Federation for Women’s Sports was founded and Faezeh, a sports fan, was appointed as its director. Faezeh held this position until 2009, when the sports federation was closed because of her political activities.

In 1996, former cabinet members and friends of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani founded the Executives of Construction Party (ECP),¹ and Faezeh became the head of its women’s branch. The same year she won a seat in the 5th Majles. Two years into her term, Faezeh decided to try her hand at journalism by publishing Zan, a newspaper for women;² one year later, it was banned for promoting feminism, among other offenses.

When she failed to win reelection, she decided to go abroad to further her education: “I first chose Canada but then changed my mind and went to the UK.” She obtained her master’s degree in human rights law from a university in Birmingham, UK, and lived there for two years “incognito.” She started a PhD program at the university but then transferred her credits to Islamic Azad University.

She now teaches law at the school’s Faculty of Law, which she implies was founded so she would have a teaching position. “We founded the faculty of law on Dr. Jassebi’s³ order, and I teach courses related to my field of study there.”

According to public records, Faezeh Hashemi served as an alternate board member of Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab from 2009 to at least 2013—records have not been updated for this institution since that year. 

Faezeh’s husband is connected to several companies, including: 

• Polyethylene Tak Sirjan⁴ – founded on April 14, 1991. Hamid Lahouti was on the board of this Kerman-based company as chairman and vice chairman until September 15, 2007, when he was replaced by Abdollah Azimi. Azimi is connected to various other industrial and import-export companies. The company produces plastic bags, polypropylene fibers, and multifilament yarn, according to the business directory website Kompass.
• Sirjan Industrial Foams – Hamid Lahouti was the board chairman of this company, which was established on July 27, 2004. The company makes  “all varieties of foam, polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyurethane, and parts made from such foams,” in addition to “importing relevant machinery, raw materials, and additives.”
• Sabok Saz Bespar – Hamid Lahouti has been the board chairman of this company since it was established on September 8, 2001. The company produces industrial foam, particularly for use in the auto industry. Members of the Azimi family (see above) are also on the board of this company. 

Fatemeh Hashemi Bahramani

Fatemeh, 60, is married to dentist Saeed Lahouti Eshkevari—brother of Faezeh’s husband—and together they have two children, Ali and Sara. She has a degree in political science from Islamic Azad University.

Fatemeh was once stricken by a mysterious illness for which she went to Canada for treatment, according to her father’s memoirs. She also sought treatment in the UK.

She headed the Iranian Women’s Solidarity Association, a position that enabled her to travel around the globe. She used her father’s position as president to secure funds for her various projects and in obtaining things like a Xerox machine and heaters for her office.

Fatemeh founded the Moderation and Development Party in 2001 along with several individuals close to Rafsanjni such as Akbar Torkan, the defense minister in Rafsanjani’s first administration. Hassan Rouhani was the party’s candidate during his successful 2013 and 2016 campaigns for the presidency.

Fatemeh is involved with various health-related foundations and institutions, despite lacking relevant academic credentials: 

• Charity Foundation for Special Diseases (CFSD): She founded this bonyad on May 7, 1991, continues to head it, and is one of its trustees alongside Hossein Marashi (chairman of the board of the Quds Force–controlled Mola al-Movahedin Charity). The charity has at least ten treatment centers in various cities across Iran as well as at least two in Iraq. 
• Iran Specific Patients and Transplant Sports Federation: She heads this institution, which was founded on June 19, 2016.
• Soudeh Medical and Treatment Center: Fatemeh was formerly the chairman of this CFSD subsidiary’s board of directors. Hossein Marashi (MMC) is its current board chairman. Baqer Larijani, former Majles speaker Ali Larijani’s brother, has been a board member since at least 2015. 
• Institute for Research, Education, and Treatment of Cancer (aka Cancer Research, Training, and Prevention Institute): This institute was founded on July 11, 1998. It falls under the CFSD umbrella and is dedicated to cancer research and treatment as well as helping sufferers and their families to cope with a cancer diagnosis. According to its website, the institute is building a hospital that “will be completed within three years”— there is no indication of when that three-year span began or is supposed to end.

Fatemeh Hashemi has been the vice chairman of its board of directors since August 2015. Her uncle Mohammad Hashemi Bahramani, Rafsanjani’s youngest brother, has been its CEO and board chairman since at least 2008. Fatemeh’s cousin Ali Hashemi (Bahramani) is also a former board member. 

Fariba Lahouti Eshkevari, a relative of her husband, is also a trustee of this institute. Fariba’s business interests connect her to notable Islamic Republic officials and elites including Masoumeh Ebtekar and her two sons Eisa and Taha Hashemi, Seyyed Mostafa Mohaqeq Ahmadabadi (who is married to Ali Larijani’s sister).

Rafsanjani helped fund this endeavor because Fatemeh suggested it, according to his memoir.

Not much is known about Fatemeh’s husband, Saeed, who has kept a very low profile. But he works at Akhtar Hospital, which was once the American Army hospital and transferred to Bonyad Mostazafan after the Revolution.

Rafsanjani’s Daughters and the Lahouti Clan 

Saeed and Hamid Lahouti’s younger brother Vahid was a member of the Mojahedin e-Khalgh (MEK)—arrested in 1981, he died in custody under suspicious circumstances. Their father was cleric Hassan Lahouti Eshkevari, who was close to Khomeini and accompanied him back to Iran from France. He is seen standing behind Khomeini in the famous picture of the Ayatollah disembarking the plane that brought him to Tehran. Hassan Lahouti went on to become a commander of the Islamic Revolution committees and later briefly the first commander of the IRGC. He was also the MP for Rasht in the first Majles following the Islamic Revolution and the first Rasht Friday prayer leader.

In October 1981, Vahid Lahouti was arrested by the pro-Khomeini revolutionaries. Hassan was arrested two days later and died within hours in Evin Prison. In a now archived Shahrvand Emrouz interview⁵ with Faezeh and Fatemeh Hashemi and Hamid Lahouti, they all deny that Hassan had any involvement with the MEK and state that he died of strychnine poisoning based on the coroner’s official report and not of a heart attack as claimed by IRI media at the time. 

Fatemeh Hashemi says that when they learned of Vahid’s arrest her father called Evin Prison warden Asadollah Lajevardi⁶ to ask what the charge was. Lajevardi assured Rafsanjani that they just needed to ask a few questions and would release him. A few days later, the Lahoutis were informed that Vahid had broken his leg in prison. Rafsanjani once again called Lajevardi and was told that Vahid had thrown himself out of a window and injured himself trying to escape from prison officers. 

According to Fatemeh Hashemi, when she informed her father that Lajevardi’s men had gone to her father-in-law Hassan Lahouti’s house to arrest him, Rafsanjani called Lajevardi and told him that his men must leave Lahouti’s house right away. Despite promising to do so, they instead took Lahouti by force. “I called Ahmad Khomeini and told him that Mr. Lahouti had been arrested and taken to Evin Prison, [and to] tell Imam [Khomeini] about this and he did. Imam Khomeini asked them to call Mr. [Hassan] Mousavi Tabrizi [prosecutor general of the Revolutionary Court] to tell him Mr. Lahouti should not be taken to Evin Prison.” Unable to locate Mousavi Tabrizi, Fatemeh says Ahmad Khomeini sent a bike messenger to Evin, but by the time the messenger reached the prison they learned that her father-in-law had expired.

Fatemeh Hashemi and Hamid Lahouti both say they found out from the coroner’s report that Hassan Lahouti died of strychnine poisoning. While then president Rafsanjani looked into the issue “tirelessly,” Fatemeh says her father asked them to “keep silent on the matter for the sake of the Revolution.”

Fatemeh says that a few days after her father-in-law’s death they learned that Vahid had also died—when they contacted Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, they were informed that he had been buried ten days previously. “We were told that Vahid died after throwing himself out of his hospital bed.” Faezeh Hashemi says Vahid died of “blunt force trauma to the head.”

The post The Rafsanjani Children, Part 3: Faezeh and Fatemeh Hashemi appeared first on Tehran Bureau.

The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, gave rise to the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran’s economy.

The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, gave rise to the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran’s economy.

The lack of comprehensive public business records from the Rafsanjani era make tracing his family’s role in Iran’s economy difficult, but Rafsanjani was a dedicated diary keeper and one of the few IRI officials to publish annual memoirs until his suspicious death in 2017. 

These memoirs, augmented by our research into current business records and whistleblower interviews, offer a wealth of information about the Rafsanjani clan’s relationships with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top decision makers, family scandals, and pivotal events that took place behind closed doors and were never shared with the nation. 

In this series, Tehran Bureau provides an in-depth look at the Rafsanjani family’s business interests. Part one examined the network of Mohsen Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s oldest son. Part two turned to the youngest of Rafsanjani’s three sons, Yaser Hashemi, along with his wife, Maryam Salari, and her family connections. Part three focused on the late president’s two daughters, Faezeh and Fatemeh, and the Lahouti clan they both married into. Now, in this fourth part we look at Rafsanjani’s middle son, Mehdi Hashemi.

Mehdi Hashemi

Mehdi, 51, is the second of Rafsanjani’s three sons and the fourth of his five children. He is married to his cousin Fereshteh Hashemi¹ with whom he has two sons, Foad and Yasin. Foad has been in the UK since 2013 studying at City, University of London, where he attained both his bachelor’s and master of science degrees. He recently obtained a PhD in renewable energy management and systems technology. No information is publicly available on Yasin.

Mehdi has a master’s-equivalent diploma from the Sharif University of Technology in energy systems engineering. He obtained this diploma via the educational partnership program between the university and the Iranian Fuel Conservation Company (IFCC).² At the time, Mehdi was the IFFC’s CEO and vice chairman and evidently gave himself an IFCC scholarship. He then used this diploma to obtain a PhD in energy engineering from Azad University—to which his family had multiple business connections. In 2010, he began pursuing an Oxford doctorate in constitutional law. (He is also reported to have a degree in telecommunications, but this has not been verified.)

Mehdi managed his father’s 2005 reelection campaign; the two-time president failed to secure a third term and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency. One year later, Mehdi managed his father’s successful campaign for a seat in the Assembly of Experts. 

In 2009, following the contested presidential election, Rafsanjani appointed Mehdi as his representative in the joint election integrity committee.

Mehdi was also the chief of staff of Azad University’s board of trustees; after he left the country in 2010 the position was given to his brother Yaser. 

Aside from having served as vice chairman of the Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab publishing house, devoted to his father’s legacy (see our article on Mohsen Hashemi), Mehdi was involved at the top levels of two oil and gas firms: 

• Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) – from March 17, 1993, until 2000
• Iranian Fuel Conservation Company – from 2000 until 2006

Mehdi’s Many Scandals 

Mehdi Hashemi was rarely far from scandal for more than two decades. In 2003, Norwegian Statoil was investigated for paying him 15 million dollars in “consulting fees” via an offshore company ​​to win contracts to develop the offshore platforms in South Pars Phases 6, 7, and 8. Statoil executives told Norwegian investigators that the fees paid to Mr. Rafsanjani were based on a contract that he said had been used with other multinational oil companies, suggesting that Statoil was not alone. In 2007, Parisian prosecutors launched an investigation into oil giant Total over an alleged bribe of 95 million Swiss francs ($78.6 million) bribe paid to Mehdi to win a gas project in South Pars.  

In 2015, Tasnim released a 20-year-old confessional audio recording of Abbas Yazdanpanah Yazdi, a close friend and confidant of Mehdi’s, detailing various projects and deals that were made with international companies but only after a fee was paid to Mehdi. Yazdanpanah Yazdi had been arrested on charges of espionage in 1995, during which time his confessions were recorded. He was granted furlough that same year and left the country. Yazdanpanah Yazdi then took British citizenship and continued his work with Mehdi Hashemi, according to Mashreghnews. Yazdanpanah Yazdi had allegedly testified in an arbitration case filed by Crescent Petroleum against NIOC—another oil deal that Mehdi was said to have been involved with. Yazdanpanah Yazdi disappeared in Dubai in 2013 and is presumed dead. There has been widespread speculation that Mehdi Hashemi was behind his disappearance, and many, including Yazdanpanah’s wife, believe the Iranian government was involved in her husband’s disappearance and death. 

In another case, Iranian-born, European-educated businessman Houshang Bouzari brought a suit against the Islamic Republic and Mehdi Hashemi for “kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault, torture, and death threats” in 2000. In an interview with The Atlantic in 2012, Bouzari claimed that Mehdi had demanded a $50 million bribe from him or else his South Pars contract would be scrapped. Before Bouzari could make a decision, Mehdi informed him that he was creating a company called Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) that would take over all South Pars oil projects. Public records from the early 1990s when IOEC was established are not available; however, in 2015 Rafsanjani met with IOEC executives and confirmed that it had been his son’s initiative that led to the company’s creation. Several entries from 1996 in Rafsanjani’s memoirs also indicate that Mehdi was the CEO of IOEC.

Bouzari traveled to Tehran to dissuade then president Rafsanjani and Mehdi, but his plan backfired and landed him in Evin Prison. According to Bouzari, his interrogators demanded $5 million to let him go. His wife paid $3 million of the ransom and he was released after a few months having promised to pay the remainder. Having fled to Canada with his family in 1998, Bouzari brought suit against the Islamic Republic in the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario. The  lawsuit was ultimately dismissed on May 1, 2002, with the court ruling that it lacked jurisdiction.

Mehdi was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to ten years in prison for embezzlement, accepting bribes, and national security crimes in June 2015.

Mehdi’s Cousins and In-Laws

Mehdi’s wife Fereshteh has at least three brothers, Ali, Naser and Mohammad, all referenced in Rafsanjani’s memoirs. Mohammad is a doctor who during Rafsanjani’s presidency went to Germany for a fellowship. He is married to Maryam Zaheri, who is related to the Fayazbaksh family. 

Naser, a pistachio farmer, is married to Mansoureh Mahdavi Shahroudi, the daughter of Mohammad Sharif Mahdavi Shahroudi. 

Mohammad Sharif Mahdavi Shahroudi was one of Rafsanjani’s close associates and a former Iranian envoy to South Africa who, according to Rafsanjani,  played matchmaker in Nelson Mandela’s marriage to Graça Machel (the widow of former president of Mozambique Samora Machel). 

Naser Hashemi and his wife’s family own a publishing house called Chav Gostar Packaging and Printing. Hassan Hashemi Bahramani (possibly another one of Fereshteh’s brothers) formerly served as its CEO, and Hassan Moadikhah was board chairman. Moadikhah is the son of Abdolmajid Moadikhah, a former Revolution Court Prosecutor,  MP and close Rafsanjani associate. 

Mansoureh Mahdavi was the vice chairman of this company, where positions were also held by her brothers Alireza (inspector) and Mehdi (alternate inspector). Alireza Mahdavi is a cultural advisor to the Tehran provincial governor, for whose office he previously served as public relations and international affairs director.

Mehdi Mahdavi is connected to several companies ranging from recycling firms to ones that create libraries and data centers for government organizations and others involved in import-export. 

Both Mahdavi brothers are connected to Rah Jooyan Imam Hadi Institute, which is linked to Mostafa Mirlohi, a relative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s.

Another influential individual affiliated with this company is Alireza Mousavi Bojnourdi (related to the Khomeini family³). Alireza and his family members own the Talaei Pars Tobacco Co. as well as oil and gas companies such as Persis Sun (oil swap, import-export, domestic and international investment, offshore oil services and construction) and the newly established Petro Esteel Asia, which deals in imports of “oil, gas and petrochemical industry equipment, imports of iron ore and other metallic bars.” 

The family’s other holdings include the Persis Daad (fka Nik Rouz Daad) law firm, Ma’araf Rayzan Artistic and Cultural Institute (book publication and compilation, visual arts and graphics, theater set design, database creation, visual effects, and costume design—as well as providing journalists with fixers), and a Quran Bonyad.

The post The Rafsanjani Children, Part 4: Mehdi Hashemi appeared first on Tehran Bureau.