(Reuters) Steve Stecklow, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Yeganeh Torbati - The Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, known in Iran as Setad, has become in the past six years a $95 billion business juggernaut that holds stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming. Just one person controls that economic empire - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Setad built its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians: members of religious minorities like the Baha'i, as well as Shi'ite Muslims, business people and Iranians living abroad. Khamenei has held on for 24 years. Setad gives him the financial means to operate independently of parliament and the national budget, insulating him from factional infighting.
2013-11-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive