Khamenei Appoints IRGC Member To Head Economic Conglomerate

Iran's Supreme Leader has appointed a heavily sanctioned ex-IRGC member to head the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO), a vast economic conglomerate under his personal control.

Parviz Fattah is a prominent Iranian conservative politician who has previously served as a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) and held the position of Minister of Energy in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first cabinet from 2005 to 2009.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Fattah in 2010 due to his involvement with Bonyad Taavon Sepah, an organization that provides services to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Additionally, he was sanctioned by the US Treasury in November 2020 due to his connections with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

EIKO was also sanctioned in 2021, days before President Trump left office, which was imposed for Iran’s destabilizing activities in the Middle East and its missile program.

The conglomerate, under Khamenei's control, has extensive assets across Iran, and is believed to be orchestrating an increasing number of confiscations of properties belonging to the Iranian minority Baha’is community, one of the most persecuted minorities in Iran.

Fattah also led the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation from 2015 to 2019 and has been the head of the Mostazafan Foundation since 2019.

As part of the reshuffling, Hossein Dehghan, a former IRGC air force officer with the rank of brigadier general and former Minister of Defense of Iran, has taken over as the head of the Mostazafan Foundation, succeeding Fattah.