The Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO) (, Setâd-e Ejrây-ye Farmân-e Emâm), also known as the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Directive or simply Setad, is a parastatal organization in the Islamic Republic of Iran, under direct control of the Supreme Leader of Iran. It was created from thousands of properties confiscated in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A Reuters investigation found that the organization built "its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians", also seizing property from members of religious minorities, business people and Iranians living abroad; at times falsely claiming that the properties were abandoned.
Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini originally ordered three of his aides to take care of and distribute the confiscated property to charity. However, under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the organization has been acquiring property for itself. It has grown into a major center of economic power in Iran. Holdings include large amounts of real estate and 37 companies, covering nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, and telecommunications. While its accounts are secret even to the Iranian parliament, a 2013 estimate by Reuters news agency put the total value of Setad's holdings at $95 billion (made up of about $52 billion in real estate and $43 billion in corporate holdings). In 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the organization and some of its corporate holdings, referring to it as "a massive network of front companies hiding assets on behalf of ... Iran's leadership."
History
The organization was launched on April 26, 1989, when the first Supreme Leader of Iran, "The Imam" Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a two-paragraph order directed three of his aides to manage, maintain or sell properties confiscated or "supposedly abandoned during the chaotic years following" the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The order called for the implementation of Article 49 of Constitution of Iran under which the government had the right to confiscate all wealth accumulated through illegal means, restore "it to its legitimate owners"; and if those owners could not be identified, entrust it "to the public treasury".
Aides of Khomeini — Habibollah Asgaroladi, Mehdi Karroubi and Hassan Sane'i — were appointed by him in the order, to take over all "sales, servicing and managing" of assets "of unknown ownership and without owners." The aides were to help "as much as possible" seven bonyads and charities specified by Khomeini, such as the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, State Welfare Organization of Iran. The "families of the martyrs, veterans, the missing, prisoners of war and the downtrodden" were to be given aid. According to Reuters, one of the three co-founders of Setad, Mehdi Karoubi, wrote in 2009 that the organization was originally intended "to operate for no more than two years". Khomeini died about a month after giving his order, and the organization did not disband but developed and grew for more than two decades into a vast parastatal known as the Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam - "the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam" — under the second Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. According to Reuters, the organization has since been acquiring property for itself through a systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians, religious minorities, business people and Iranians living abroad; at times falsely claiming that the properties were abandoned.
Leadership
Mohammad Shariatmadari was appointed as the leader of Setad by order of Ali Khamenei in 1994. Iranians who have served in the running or overseeing of Setad include Mohammad Javad Iravani, who took over as head of Setad in 1997, and Mohammad Mokhber, who became the CEO in 2007.
In 2009, Mohammad Saeedikia, a former Iranian minister of housing and urban development, was named the chairman of the Setad subsidiary Tadbir Construction Development Group. Aref Norozi served on the board of Tadbir Investment and was head of Setad's real-estate division. As of 2013, Ali Ashraf Afkhami was "identified" as the head of the Tadbir Economic Development Group. As of June 2013, Mohammad Reyshahri, a former intelligence minister, was chairman of Rey Investment Co, appointed by Khamenei.
In 2021, the members of the Board of Trustees of the "Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order" elected Aref Norouzi as the head of the executive staff.
The current head of the "Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order" is Parviz Fattah.