Info:
Astan Quds Razavi (AQR) is overseen by its custodian Ahmad Marvi, one of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s closest associates for several decades, whose appointment demonstrates the importance of AQR to the regime;
AQR is ostensibly a charitable organization tasked with overseeing the operations of the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran. In reality, under the direct supervision of the Supreme Leader, AQR has acquired vast economic holdings in construction, agriculture, energy, telecommunications, and financial services;
AQR controls entities in several fields through Razavi Economic Organization, an entity established in the late 1990s to procure and secure the financial resources necessary to carry out AQR’s social and cultural tasks, and for managing and directing companies and institutes affiliated with AQR. AQR’s vast economic empire consists of entities involved in logistics, automotive manufacturing, mining, energy, financial services, and the manufacturing of tile, including Shahab Khodro Co., Iran Combine Manufacturing Co., Quds Razavi Housing and Construction Co., Quds Razavi Mines Co., Quds Razavi Traditional Tile Co., Razavi Brokerage Firm, Razavi Oil and Gas Development Co., and Razavi Supply Chain Management Co;
Ahmad Marvi is an Iranian Twelver Shia cleric who has recently been appointed as the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi by the decree of the supreme leader of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Before that, he was in charge of a department at Iranian supreme leader office, responsible for contacts and communications with religious seminaries and likewise the chief of “Estehlal (new moon sight) headquarters” of the “supreme leader office”;
Ahmad Marvi has educated at seminary and university in high levels of fiqh/principles, and PhD of “theology and Islamic education”; and had teachers such as: Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Abolghasem Khazali, Taheri KhoramAbbadi, Hossein Waheed Khorasani and Mojtaba Tehrani;
In April 2019, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, appointed Ahmad Marvi to be the Custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi; a multi-billion-dollar trust only for the holy shrine of the eighth Imam of Shi’a Islam, in the city of Mashad, in northeastern Iran’s Khorasan province. Marvi considers his most important duty, however, to be creating an image of Khamenei as a kindly, mystical and even sacred person. In that regard, Marvi also strongly advocates for Khamenei’s sons. He usually speaks on three topics: living a simple life; tolerance for criticism; and the sons of the Supreme Leader;
Marvi’s positions, on all issues, are completely in line with Khamenei’s, sometimes even sharper than his. Marvi regularly uses the regime leader’s favorite words, such as “enemy” and “insight.” He explicitly states that “all affairs should be in line with the views of his eminence the Supreme Leader;” and there is currently a kind of “emotional bond between the Guardian Jurist and the people.”;
Like his leader, Marvi says that the condition of women under the Islamic regime is highly desirable, as opposed to their conditions in the West: “We must ask questions about the rights of women in the Western world, and not be answerable to the West. We must drag them to court because they have done a great deal of harm to a large section of society.” Marvi is also strongly opposed to technology and other manifestations of the modern world, as Khamenei is. He regards “promoting the satellite, the Internet, cyberspace and social networks” as “an enemy conspiracy to spread moral and cultural laxity in society,” and in contrast believes that the contemporary youth must have “insight.” While fully at the beck and call of the Supreme Leader, since July 2008, Marvi has become a member of the central council of the “Combatant Clerics’ Society,” the political party of conservative clerics;
Ahmad Marvi is definitely one of the people who, behind the scenes, play a significant role in Iranian politics, and its’ backroom machinations. Marvi’s closeness to Khamenei and his children makes him a figure that cannot be ignored when analyzing the Islamic regime;
Astan Quds Razavi is one the regime’s most vital and well-entrenched economic organs. Is custodianship of the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad is complemented by its ownership of diversified financial interests in various sectors of Iran’s economy. its economic interests are handled chiefly via its economic wing, the Razavi Economic Organizaiton (REO). Astan-e Quds Razavi has played an active role in providing financial, material and logistical support to fundamentalist and terrorist groups within the last few years. Particularly, the heads of AQR have vast relations with Hezbollah’s top officials. It is worth noting that these activities within the past few years have been expanding;
Born:
1958
Country:
Iran
Address:
Mashhad, Iran
Reason for the color:
» Added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on January 13, 2021 pursuant to Executive Order 13876 for being a person appointed by the Supreme Leader to a position as the head of any entity located in Iran;
» Astan Quds Razavi – Report;