Mohsen Rafighdoust (also Rafiqdoust, fa, محسن رفیقدوست) is an Iranian

Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

military officer and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician. He is a member of the

Islamic Coalition Party The Islamic Coalition Party) from 1963 to 1979 and "Islamic Coalition Society" ( fa, جمعیت مؤتلفه اسلامی, jamʿiyat-e moʾtalefe-ye eslâmi) from 1979 to 2004. (ICP; fa, حزب مؤتلفه اسلامی, ḥezb-e moʾtalefe-ye esl ...

Early life

Rafighdoost was born around 1940 in south

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. His family background is that of a '' bazaari'', the traditional class of people who work in the

bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...

.Kaplan, ''The Ends of the Earth, (1996), p.201 His father was a fruit and vegetable merchant at the Tehran bazaar.Paul Klebnikov. (7 July 2003
Millionaire mullahs
''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', Retrieved 15 May 2009 His family was very religious and close to

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

. In 1953, Rafighdoost was expelled from

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

due to his pro- Mossadegh activities.

Military career

Mohsen Rafighdoost was the chief of

's security detail in 1979 during the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, and helped found the

who helped eliminate opposition to theocratic rule in the

Islamic Republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...

. He is noted for having driven

, the leader of the Revolution, from the

international airport into Tehran, during Khomeini's triumphant return to Iran from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, while hundreds of Iranians crowded the road to welcome Khomeini back. He has told journalists this was the most important day of his life and "crowds were all over the car, touching and hanging on to it." He served from 1982 to 1989 as Minister of the Revolutionary Guards where he quashed internal dissent and obtained weapons from abroad for the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...

. Rafighdoost said in a 2014 interview that he twice suggested to Khomeini that Iran develop

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

to counter their use by Saddam Hussein. Rafighdoost claimed that both times Khomeini rejected the idea, reasoning that it would be against Islam.

Business career

In 1989 he was appointed head of the Mostazafan Foundation or ''

Bonyad-e Mostazafen va Janbazan The Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution ( fa, بنیاد مستضعفان انقلاب اسلامی) formerly Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan (Foundation of the Oppressed and Disabled or "MFJ") is a charitable '' bonyad'', or foundation, i ...

'' (Foundation of the Oppressed), "the second-largest commercial enterprise" in Iran behind the state-owned

National Iranian Oil Company The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; fa, شرکت ملّی نفت ایران, Sherkat-e Melli-ye Naft-e Īrān) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Ir ...

where he remained until 1999. Since 1999, Mohsen Rafighdoost has been the Director of the Noor Foundation. The Foundation reportedly owns apartment blocks and "makes an estimated $200 million importing pharmaceuticals, sugar and construction materials."

Controversy

In 1995, Mohsen Rafighdoost's brother, Morteza Rafighdoost, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for bank fraud. After this, Supreme Leader

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

appointed a board of trustees and made the Bonyad-e Mostazafen va Janbazan subject to

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

scrutiny. Rafighdoost's personal fortune is said to be worth the equivalent of many millions of dollars. When asked about his personal wealth, Rafighdoost has responded: "I am just a normal person, with normal wealth, but if Islam is threatened, I will become big again."

References

Bibliography

A Bazaari's World by Robert D. Kaplan
March 1996 ''Atlantic'' accessed 15-May-2009, also in (with minor changes) Kaplan, Robert, ''The Ends of the Earth: A Journey at the Dawn of the 21st Century'', Random House, New York, 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rafighdoost, Mohsen 1940 births Living people People from Tehran Iranian businesspeople Government ministers of Iran Islamic Coalition Party politicians Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier generals Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel of the Iran–Iraq War